In Memoriam

 Evie Lee Jolley, 91, of Waco, formerly of Spindale, N.C., one of God's most faithful and devoted servants, passed away peacefully on Thursday, Aug. 17 with family members around her hospital bed.

Lee was born on June 4, 1915, in Cliffside, N.C. to Sam and Etta (Pruette) Haynes. She married Odus Jolley in 1932. Together they worked for many years in the restaurant business in Spindale, N.C., where they raised five daughters. After Lee and Odus retired from the restaurant business, Lee worked for several years at Belk Department Store.

The family is grateful for Lee's life and example of faith. Her greatest joy in life was in serving the Lord through her church, teaching Sunday School, participating in missionary activities through the WMU (Women's Missionary Union), and ministering to the homebound. Some of her happiest memories are of attending mission conferences at Ridgecrest Baptist Assembly in the mountains of western North Carolina. She had been an active member of the Spencer Baptist Church in Spindale, N.C., for many years and was a current member of the Lake Shore Baptist Church of Waco. Lee and her husband were also founders of the Main Street Baptist Church in Spindale.

She was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Odus Jolley; daughter, Rebecca Kinnibrugh of Corpus Christi; grandson, Gregory Sparks of California; sisters, Sue Dover and Mary Willie Pruitt; and brother, Clarence Haynes.

She is survived by her daughters, Freida Sparks and husband, Bob of Pebble Beach, Calif., Celia Dupree of Waco, Jo Cannon and husband, Ray of Waco, and Ramona McKeown and husband, Jim of Waco; grandchildren, Michelle Dupree of Rhode Island, Leslie Dupree and husband, Barry Culman of Virginia, Catherine Osborne of Waco, Karen Cannon of Austin, Susan Cannon of El Paso, Craig Bethards of Corpus Christi, Kevin Steffey and wife, Kathleen of Florida and Brian Steffey and wife, Jane Ann of Tennessee; ten great-grandchildren; sisters, Betty Lyles and Annie Mae Spillars both of North Carolina; brother, Wayne Haynes of North Carolina; many nieces; nephews; cousins; and friends.

Services were held at 4 p.m. Sunday at the Lake Shore Baptist Church, 5801 Bishop, with the Rev. Sharlande Sledge officiating. Visitation with her family followed the memorial services at the church. Graveside services were held at 11 a.m. on Thursday, August 24, at Sunset Memorial Cemetery in Forest City, N.C. Memorial guestbook at www.oakcrestwaco.com

 

Excerpt from Rev. Sharlande Sledge's
remarks at Evie Lee Jolley's Memorial Service

Until the last week of her life, Lee Jolley played the piano.  Her hands were at home on the piano keys at Wesley Woods, just as they had been all her life in North Carolina.

      “Every other song was ‘Jesus Loves Me,’” her granddaughters and daughters said. “She would start with ‘Jesus Loves Me,’ and then play ‘Leaning on the Everlasting Arms’ or ‘Trust and Obey,’ but she would come back to ‘Jesus Loves Me.’  Then she’d play ‘Battle Hymn of the Republic,’ and then she would play ‘Jesus Loves Me’ again. But it never failed. Every other song was ‘Jesus Loves Me’!”

If every other song Mrs. Jolley played was “Jesus Loves Me” that had to have had a profound influence on the way she lived her life. In her playing and her singing she affirmed God’s unconditional love for her. For her to say “Jesus Loves Me” was as natural to her as breathing. She lived as though she always felt the measureless love of God in her heart and deep down in her bones. She lived her faith from the inside out in pure devotion to the Jesus she loved.

If every other song you sing is “Jesus Loves Me,” how will you live your life?

Listen to your life this week. What is the song you keep coming back to?  What is the most important music that you hear “way down in the depths of your heart”?  What word is the source from which the song of your life flows?

Paul wrote to the Philippians, “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, [whatever is kind and winsome*], if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”

 

 

Reproduced with permission of the Waco Tribune-Herald, Copyright 2006