Lucille Ann Chapman

Memorial services to celebrate the life of Lucille Ann Chapman will be held Saturday, May 31, 2014 at 10:00am in Cashner Colonial Chapel (801 Teas Rd Conroe, TX 77303). Lucille was born April 10, 1938 in Youngstown, Ohio to Carmen and Susan Conti and passed away May 21, 2014 in Conroe, Texas. Lucille was a devout member of the Republican Party and Tea Party. She loved to cook, paint, fish, garden, watch FOX News, and especially spending time with her family. She is survived by her daughters, Susan Hensley and partner Duane Oliver and Carmen Taylor and spouse Sean; brother, Richard Conti and spouse Barbara; grandchildren, Eric Thompson, Jason Davis and spouse Mindy, Brendon Taylor, Kacey Taylor Whitehead and spouse Brandon; great grandchildren, Landon and Brantley Davis. Numerous nieces, nephews, cousins, business associates and a host of friends also survive. The family would like to extend a very heart-felt thank you to nurse Susan White with Complete Nurse Solutions, LLC and Cornerstone Healthcare Group in Conroe, and the physicians, nurses and staff for all of their love and support provided to Lucille and her family. You are invited to view our website and leave written tributes to the family at www.cashnerconroe.com

As spoken during the Memorial Service by Dr. John C. Callison

The Declaration of Purpose

We have gathered today in the protective shelter of God's healing love. This is the place in which we are free to pour out our grief, to release our anger, to face our emptiness, and most of all, to know that God cares. We gather here as Gods people, conscious of others who have died and of the frailty of our own existence on earth. We come to comfort and to support one another in our common loss. We gather to hear God's word of hope that can drive away despair and move us to offer God our praise. We remember Lucille Ann Chapman:

Mother of Susan Hensley and Duane, and Carmen Taylor and Sean.

Sister of Richard Conti, and Barbara.

Grandmother of Eric Thompson, Jason Davis and Mindy, Brendon Taylor, and Kacey Taylor Whitehead and Brandon.

Great Grandmother of Landon and Brantley Davis.

Lucy was an Aunt and a Cousin and a friend. But more than anything else, Lucy was a child of God's Grace. Born to this earth on Sunday, April 10, 1938 and on Wednesday, May 21, 2014, she was born fully into the Kingdom of God.

Song: Augus Dei by Michael Smith

Let us begin our time together with prayer.

Hearing the Word of Scripture: Isaiah 43:1-7 and John 14:1-4

Meditation:

I have used her full name once, and won't do it again. She preferred Lucy. She was born on the same day as Dandy Don Meredith, but that wouldn't matter to her because he wasn't a Pittsburgh Steeler (and only Steelers matter to her until she learned that their owner was a big contributor to the Democratic Party and that was the end of that).

Lucy was the 3rd child of an Italian steel worker dad who had his own problems but loved his baby daughter, and a Czech mom who taught her to love Czech food; Piroshkies, stuffed cabbage and Christmas cookies.

When Lucy was 10 her mom died. Eventually Richard, June and Lucy, a big brother and two sisters were in Texas together.

Lucy was a mom. A frugal one. Frugal is a good word, it means understanding value and not wasting. It means being careful with resources and using them wisely.

Lucy was both mom and dad to her daughters. She worked three jobs to provide for them. Lucy had a habit of dividing her pay into brown envelopes to pay the bills for the month as they came due. Stashed quarters in the bottom of an ivy plant for vacation money. And made dresses for Susan and Carmen out of scraps from work she'd done as a seamstress. She made favorite fancy feasts from fried bologna, mashed potatoes and a pepper and onion. She could fix just about anything with her butter knife, steak knife, glue, clothes pins and ice cream scoop.

Carmen and Susan remember Lucy shining up the family shoes and then lining them up to re-glue them together to make them last. Richard remembers that as kids they got one pair of shoes a year and learned to make them last.

Up north, in her early days, Lucy was a Democrat. Sean claims that he converted her from that. Did I mention that Lucy was a Republican?

Lucy was born into a Catholic family. One of the great family childhood stories is of big brother Richard pretending to be a priest at the family room desk that looked like an altar. With a cup of coca-cola and smashed bread as the Eucharistic host, Richard the priest and June and Lucy as altar boys would reenact the mass only to have Richard chug the coke without sharing...I've heard that story at least six times now and the room always fills with laughter and then a somber, quiet word from Richard follows about thinking he would become a priest and I've heard words of vocation from Lucy...

Laughter was a big part of Lucy's life. From laughing at midnight mass as nightgowns began to poke out from under winter coats with Lucy and Carmen and Susan, all three trying to keep their giggling from being too disruptive in church to roaring away after sledding into the woods only to go eagerly again, laughter was a big part of life. Lucy too great joy in dressing up as a bearded repairman for Halloween and got caught peeking into Susan's house and fooling her own daughter.

Lucy wanted her family together. Both girls report that the best vacation that ever took place when Lucy gathered up the quarters from the ivy, loaded them into the car and set off for the 4th of July in Ocean City, Maryland. There, basking in the sun all three got got terribly sunburned and met Tom Eaton, the founder of Solarcaine, who fixed them up with his brand new product. They traveled in that car to watch the leaves turning, to see horses, to be together.

More than anything else she wanted her family together. Sean says he was married into the family for ten years before Lucy even acknowledged him. (Interloper...)

Lucy was always thinking of family. Constantly looking for the small, just right thing for Christmas, even though it was almost a year away. She had a special soft spot for each grandchild and their kids.

You know, I've done more than a few of these services. Tried to memorialize more than a thousand lives in my ministry. I have never sat with a family that could laugh more easily, express more love, testify to live lived well better than this one. Most families struggle with words or have to search for stories. Most of the time I watch as we filter out the ugly stuff to say only the good and yet with you....remembering Lucy took no work, just stopping to laugh and take turns. And the only tears, the only hesitation came...it only came when talking about what it meant when Lucy was told she'd never drive again...and when the subject turned to your exemplary devotion and care for her in her illness.

These last months were roller coaster months. COPD, Leukemia, Aneurysm...And even then, you have the privilege of seeing death as an appropriate, even welcome reprieve for the woman you loved whose limitations were mounting still.

I haven't mentioned fishing, or the Tea-Party, or buying cars or disallowing leftovers...But that is enough, isn't it?

I read to you some scripture of our God who makes sure there's enough and will do whatever needs to be done to get the kids back together again. Of God, who in Christ, longed for family to be together and prepares to gather us home again.

And I want you to know that if that God who made Lucy and who has gotten her back home again, and longs for the day that you'll be home, too.

Song - To Where you Are - Josh Groban

Prayer, Invitation

Dr. Callison announced that Brandy, you're a fine girl was Lucy's favorite song, and the song that she wanted played at her service.

Song - Brandy - Looking Glass