Darlene Ella Way

Darlene was born June 15, 1943 in Chewelah, Washington and raised in Deer Park, Washington where she met and married her high school sweetheart, Lyle Way. Darlene and Lyle moved to Rockaway, on the Oregon coast, to begin raising their family. It was in a little church in Rockaway, where Lyle and Darlene came to know Jesus. New in their Christian faith, Mom and Dad later moved the family to Kansas City, Missouri to begin life as missionaries at Stonecroft Ministries.

Darlene was a faithful woman who loved the Lord, family, church, and community. She willingly followed her husband, Lyle, through many jobs, journeys and ministry opportunities. One of those jobs brought them to Lubbock, Texas and eventually to their home in Ransom Canyon, Texas.

While in Texas, Darlene worked for TXDOT for several years before retiring. She was honored at her retirement celebration by welcoming TXDOT officials who traveled from Austin to personally congratulate her on many years of service to the state of Texas!

Retirement didn’t mean she would quit working. She simply expanded an existing ministry of cooking and delivering meals to neighbors. Darlene had a joyful smile and giving heart. She delivered a breakfast meal of waffles just two days before her passing.

She began another ministry a couple of years ago. Every night, she would begin around 11pm sending uplifting, personalized texts to over a hundred people. Usually, it wasn't until 4 or 5 am that she would finish. This was not a group text; no. Each text was individually personalized! Many friends and family looked forward to receiving her thoughtful, inspirational and funny texts each and every morning. Only when those texts suddenly stopped, did her recipients realize something was wrong. There were no texts to start their day; just a little bit of emptiness.

Darlene left behind her sister, Violet Schilling (husband Frank), nephew, Kevin Schilling (wife Tina), daughter, Brenda Riffle (husband Paul), son Mark Way (wife Beth), seven grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

Services will be held at Resthaven Funeral Home, 5740 West 19th Street, Lubbock, Texas 79407 at 2 pm on Wednesday, December 6, 2023.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to St Jude Children's Research Hospital or Heifer International.

https://www.stjude.org/donate/donate-to-st-jude.html Select the "Dedicate your gift in honor or memory" for Darlene Way.

https://www.heifer.org/give/giving-in-honor.html Select "Donate in Honor" for Darlene Way.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.resthavenfuneralhome.com for the Way family.