Celebrating A Legacy Of Love, Mrs. Mary C. Lemon, Monday June 6, 2005, 12 o'clock Noon, Mt. Olive Baptist Church, 469 Mt. Olive Road, Stockbridge, Georgia, Rev. James C. Vaughn, Pastor

ORDER OF SERVICE
Minister Karen Kelley, Presiding

Prelude

Rev. Michael A. Strickland Co-Pastor,Victory Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church
McDonough, GA

Processional

Solo

Ms. Sonya A. Barnes

Scripture

Old Testament

Dr. Rev. Hopie Strickland, Jr.

Pastor, Victory Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church



McDonough, GA

New Testament

Rev. E. W. Lee Pastor, Shiloh Baptist Church
McDonough, GA

Prayer of Comfort

Rev. Marlin D. Harris Pastor, New Life Baptist Church
Lithonia, GA

Reflections

Rev. E. J. Jester Pastor, First Baptist Church - Gresham Road
Lithonia, GA

Rev. Charles Nesbitt Pastor, Providence Baptist Church
College Park, GA

Rev. James Miller Pastor, Zion Grove Baptist Church
Ellenwood, GA

Essence of Life - Video Presentation

Acknowledgements

Ms. Dana L. Lemon

Solo

Ms. Sonya A. Barnes

Words of Comfort

Pastor Vaughn

Recessional

Postlude

Benediction

Rev. Arthur Powell Pastor,Travelers Rest Baptist Church
Morrow, GA

Honorary Flower Ladies
Mt. Olive Mothers Board Mt. Olive Deaconess Board
Active Flowers Ladies
Nieces

Celebrating A Legacy Of Love

Honorary Pallbearers
Georgia Funeral Service Practitioners Association

Active Pallbearers
James E. Harris Jasper Harris Jim Harris Oscar Lee Harris, Sr.

Wyman Laney Charles Newton Shedrick Watson Leonard Turner

Interment
Mt. Olive Baptist Church Cemetery Stockbridge ,Georgi a

Acknowledgement

The beauty of having dear friends is truly a blessing of God's wondrous works. The family of Mary C. Lemon is grateful to everyone for your many comforting messages prayers, and other expressions of
kindness and concern. May God Bless Each of You.
Services entrusted to: 9th District, GFSPA

Mrs. Mary C. Lemon
Monday June 6, 2005 12 o'clock Noon
Mt. Olive Baptist Church 469 Mt. Olive Road Stockbridge, Georgia

ck<~l.,Jlec.t'G quality printing & graphics 404.755.0965

Re ~ James C. Vaughn, Pastor

Mary C. Lemon
January 26, 1930- June 1, 2005
"The Family is the Country of the heart. There is an Angel in the family who, by the mysterious influence of grace, of sweetness, and of love, renders the fulfillment of duties less wearisome, sorrows less bitter. The only pure joys unmixed with sadness which it is given to man to taste upon earth are, thanks to this Angel,
the joys of the family." -- Giuseppe Mazzini--
L ike~ st~ry, each life has a theme. Sometimes we recogmze 1t; more often, we do not. Nonetheless it drives and shapes us. The theme of Mary Lemon,'s life was family.
She was born Mary Codell Harris on January 26, 1930, the tenth of Sarah Berry's and Eddie Harris ' 12 children. The Great Depression had begun. World War II was on the horizon. Not long after her two younger siblings were born, Mary's father died, leaving her mother alone to raise the large family. From Sarah, Mary learned that family, and the web of support strength it represented, were often the only safe barb in a stormy world. It was a lesson she learned well. Growing up in McDonough, Georgia, she found er refuge in nature. She loved beautiful flowers and satisfaction of growing them. She relished the peac solitude of fishing--childhood diversions that grew lifelong passions.
She began her education at the former Mt. Olive School, which was affiliated with the church she would attend for the rest of her life. Later, she transferred to the newly established Henry County Training School, from which she graduated. Her 17th birthday marked the first step of a new journey. On January 26, 1947, she married Willie Dolphus Lemon. All her mother had taught her about family and all she had learned growing up as part of one, she would now apply to her own life as a mother of seven children-Bobby, Dorothy, Katheryn, Sherman, Wanda, Sandra and Dana.
Mary was a homemaker in the truest

sense--she didn't just make dinner, she made a home. A place of devotion and discipline. Of love and learning.."The safe place," as Maya Angelou says where her family could go as they were and not be questioned. Moreover, family was an extended concept that embraced her community and Mt. Olive Baptist Church, where she served as secretary and a member of the Mother Board.
For Mary, part of making a home involved helping provide financially for it. Therefore, with her husband, she founded W. D. Lemon and Sons Funeral Home. For 49 years, her grace, kindness and strength provided the compassion and understanding so necessary in
times of Joss. She was, for many years, the softer side ofW. D. Lemon and Sons Funeral Home.
However, when Willie passed away, the other side of Mary-unbeknownst to all except her family--emerged. Astute, assiduous and assertive, Mary not only sustained the funeral home through the loss of her husband, but also led her children into it and grew it into the thriving business it is today. In recognition of her achievements, the 9th District, Georgia Funeral Service Practitioners Association recently inducted her as a lifetime member. And hers is a lifetime worth remembering.
On June 1, 2005, in the quiet hours of the morning, God sent an angel to lead another angel home. To make a home in eternity. To set foot on yet another path in her journey. Her life's theme, however, continues in the family she built in the home she made. She is survived by seven children, Mr. & Mrs. Bobby Lemon (Janice), Ellenwood, Georgia; Mr. & Mrs. James Roebuck (Dorothy), McDonough, Georgia; Ms. Katheryn Lemon, Riverdale, Georgia; Mr. & Mrs. Sherman Lemon (Shannon), Rex. Georgia; Ms. Wanda Lemon, Jonesboro, Georgia; Rev. & Mrs. Elder Mincy (Sandra), Stockbridge, Georgia; and Ms. Lemon, McDonough, Georgia; eight grandchildren, Rhonda, Shannon, Eboni, Brannon, Donte', Eldrean, Eldrick, and Corey; one great granddaughter, Courtney;

three brothers, Mr. & Mrs. Robert Harris (Annie Pearl), Stockbridge, Georgia; Mr. & Mrs. William Harris (Marie), Sioux Falls, South Dakota; and Mr. Lime Harris, Sioux Falls, South Dakota; three sisters, Mrs. Emma Armstrong, Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Mr. & Mrs. Felix Newton (Mozelle), Jonesboro, Georgia, and Mr. & Mrs. Willie J. Watson (Vera) Locust Grove, Georgia; three sisters-in-law, Mrs. Eddie Harris, Jonesboro, Georgia; Mrs. Opal Phelps, Stockbridge, Georgia; and Mr. & Mrs. Edward Jordan (Vera), Miami, Florida; a brother-in-law, Mr. Frank Elbert Lemon, Stockbridge, Georgia; dedicated employees, Mr. Elmer Barnes, Mr. Andrew Lemon, Mr. Larry Pittman, Mr. Jeffrey Turner, Mr. Richard Walker, Mr. George Ladson, Mr. Anthony Jackson, Mr. Jonathan Sheffield, a host of nieces, nephews, "adopted" children, other relatives and loving friends.

Editor and writer, Letty Cortin Pogrebin, wrote: "If the family were a container, it would be a nest, an enduring nest, loosely woven, expansive, and open. If the family were a fruit, it would be an orange, a circle of sections, held together but separable--each segment distinct. If the family were a boat, it would be a canoe that makes no progress unless everyone paddles. If the family were a sport, it would be baseball: a long, slow, nonviolent game that is never over until the last out. If the family were a building, it would be an old but solid structure that contains human history, and appeals to those who see the carved moldings under all the plaster, the wide plank floors under the linoleum, the possibilities."

Mary C. Lemon wove the nest, planted and nurtured the

fruit, captained the ship and refereed the game. She was the

architect of her family, the one person who knew its possi-

bilities and devoted her life to making them real.

Well done, thou good and faithful servant - - - enter thou into

the joy of thy Lord."

Matthew 25:21