Carolyn Guinn Hext

Etta Carolyn Guinn Hext was born on December 18, 1932 in Marietta, Georgia to Frank Alexander Guinn, Sr. and Helen Irene Harris Guinn. She joined brothers Frank Jr. and Hubert.

Our beloved mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and great-great-grandmother went to be with her Lord at sunrise on October 21, 2020 following a stroke the previous week. She was able to return home the day before her passing and spent the day surrounded by family, friends, and lots of music.

Carolyn attended First Baptist Church Beaverton, now Parkside Fellowship, beginning in 1967. Over the years she was church pianist, Sunday School teacher of both the very young babies and her peers, Sunday School secretary, and a member of the choir, singing in many Easter and Christmas musicals. She was faithful in visiting and caring for others.

Carolyn was a graduate of Robert L. Osborne High School in Marietta and attended Greenleaf Business College in Atlanta. Among the jobs she held were High School Registrar at Agua Fria High School in Arizona, Unit Secretary at OHSU and St. Vincent Medical Center, and Executive Assistant at Tektronix.

Left with joyful memories of Mom are her children Phil Hext, Steve Hext and his wife Cheryl, Elaine Peters and her husband Phil, Mary Douglas and her husband David; grandchildren Matt Douglas, Tim Peters, Michelle Taylor, John Hext, Sarah Riter, Beth Suing, Kaytee Horton, Becky Peters, and Dan Hext; great-grandchildren, Reanna, Norah, Audry, Mikey, Allie, Eva, Crosby, and Emmett; and great-great-grandchildren Leo and Fiona. Mom and Lillie Mae Johnson, her cousin and best friend from their childhood in Georgia, have kept in touch throughout the years and enjoyed visits in Georgia and Oregon and more recently, phone calls and letters.

Mom was born during an ice storm and the doctor fell on the porch on his way to deliver her at home. She was a “late-in-life” baby, 12 and 14 years younger than her brothers. Like some youngest children, she may have been a tad bit spoiled. Walking home from school she would stop by the candy store where her father had set up an account for her. Her father was a barber, a store owner, and an alms house manager and her mother was a homemaker. Mom would visit Lillie Mae’s family farm where they would “shine tomatoes” and display them for sale. Mom became an accomplished pianist and during her high school years she won a piano competition.

As a young woman, Mom attended church faithfully, active in the Young Adult Sunday School class. One Sunday a handsome young man from Dobbins Air Force Base visited her church. They met and later married. But first, her wise father insisted she attend business college and be able to support herself if it ever became necessary. They were married for almost 25 years and parented 4 children, all of whom were born in Georgia.

In 1964 the family moved from Atlanta to Oakland California, then on to Tualatin, Oregon in 1967, followed by Cottage Grove, Oregon, and Litchfield Park, Arizona. Mom and the girls moved back to Oregon, where the boys were living, in 1975.

Some of the things Mom enjoyed were traveling, reading, gardening, sewing, her pets, couponing, exercise, driving, cooking, shopping, hostessing, and fashion.

Mom’s later years were full of family, friends, church, work, and, primarily, living out the call of God to love Him and to serve others. She was well loved and she loved well. We are thankful for her example of a faithful servant of God.

This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Pslam 118:24

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