Rosa Diane Woodard

My journey began in Galveston, Texas on August 23, 1952, where the Lord sent Bishop and Mrs. Robert E. Woodard to me. It was love at first sight and  my fairy-tale of a life began. I joined what I considered to be the perfect family. Needless to say, being the only girl with four brothers, I had all the attention. You can't imagine the love that was showered on me. Mama and Daddy saw to it that I had the best of everything. My fashion plate mother looked like she stepped off the pages of Vogue Magazine everywhere she went. At a young age, I was taken to the best stores to shop. Just in case you didn't know, it's on record...… I WAS SPOILED ROTTEN.After our family moved to Houston, I got saved and baptized right here at Williams Temple where Daddy was the pastor. This is where I learned to serve God at an early age. I graduated from Jack Yates High School and got a degree in pharmacy from Texas Southern University. I was blessed to have a glorious career in pharmacy with Kroger.I truly loved my work with the church. As a little girl, I remember traveling to Waco, Texas for the convocation and all across the country for the youth conventions. Those were fascinating times with the saints. However, nothing came close to my time spent working with the Women's Department of the national church. I had the privilege to meet and work with some of the greatest women leaders of the Church of God in Christ such as: Mother Emma Crouch, Mother McGlothen of Richmond, CA, and Mother Willie Mae Rivers of Goose Creek, South Carolina. During my time with Mother Rivers, I had the pleasure of Meeting Diane Bogan of Detroit, MI. She was very instrumental in my growth as a national worker.On July 11, 1972, on my brother Bobby's birthday, my life changed forever. I gave birth to the best looking baby in the nursery and named him Byron. If you think I was spoiled, Byron took it to ANOTHER LEVEL. Later, while recovering from meningitis at my Aunt Rosa Lee's home, I attended a revival service at Elder Q.C. Simmons' church, where Elder Ronald Morris was the speaker. We were married in 1978, and as the saying goes, "born to this union" was a baby girl who would grow up to not only be my caretaker, but also my best friend. I could not ask for any better children than Byron and Rondia. I was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease and slight dementia. It got progressively worse and Rondia and Byron had no choice but to put me in a nursing home. I didn't like it, so Rondia and Andre (son-in-law) brought me home to live with them. Byron made sure I never wanted or needed anything, and Rondia took care of me as my illness progressed. There were others who came to see about me and help me with various activities, and I love and cherish each; you know who you are!I want you to know, I held on as long as I could, but I wanted to see my Jesus face to face, and hear him say, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant," I can't wait to see Mama, Daddy, my brothers Aaron and Bobby and all my aunts and uncles. So August 21, 2018 on Tuesday morning at 7:00am, I was heaven-bound. I want my grandchildren, Destinee, A.J., Riley, Alexis, and Blaze to know the brought so much love and joy into my life at such a crucial time and I cherished our time together. To my special friends, thank you for taking time to come and spend time with me and a special thank you to my Williams Temple family for everything. May God bless Maurice and Billy (brothers), nieces, nephews, my son-in-law, and grandchildren, but especially the loves of my life; Byron and Rondia. So goodnight, and I will see you on the other side. I want to assure you, I'VE GONE HOME!