For Papa

My beloved Papa, Lester Thurman Carroll, died Wednesday night at 5:23 pm. He was born October 17, 1927 in Horry County, SC. He married my grandmother, Barbara Jacqueline Bone, on August 31, 1946. They have six children, twenty-one grandchildren, and twenty great-grandchildren. Papa was a sailor in the Navy and a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He served a five year mission in the Atlanta Temple of our church with Grandma. I`ve been thinking for the past few days about what I wanted to say about Papa, and came up with some of my favorite memories of spending time with him and some things I thought were funny growing up.


-He would always put sugar in Laci`s and my cereal(this was probably allowed in Laci`s house, but was not in mine)
-He made the most delicious bran mufifns
-When Laci and I would spend the night at his house, he would give us each one of his big white t-shirts to sleep in, then make us a big pallet at the foot of his and Grandma`s bed, and then he would snore so loud all night Laci and I never got any sleep.
-He and Grandma took Laci and I camping in NC when we were about ten, and he bought us both ice cream cones every day
-Big family dinners in the garage of the house on Cliffside Circle
-That he removed the door of the playroom in that house because all the grandkids slammed it shut so much
-He always called me Lovey or Kelly Jane, which I always thought was funny because my name is Kelly Anne.
-Easter egg hunts in his and Grandma`s backyard
-I think it was the day we were having my fifth birthday party when Hurricane Hugo was supposed to hit, and I was scared, but Papa picked me up and told me that we would all be safe and I had nothing to be afraid of.
-Every Christmas Eve when they lived on Cliffside Circle, a fire truck would come by with Santa Claus, and they would stop at the houses and I think give out candy. I was barefoot and in my nightgown one year, and for some reason wouldn`t walk across the yard like that, but wanted to go out and see Santa, so Papa carried me from the house and out to the fire truck and then back inside.

Papa was a great man, kind, hard-working and loving, and completely selfless. I was thinking tonight, as I stood over his casket, that if he could, he would have wanted to know why we were all making a big deal over him, and told us all to go out to dinner or to a movie, or at least do something more exciting than make a big fuss over him, because it was unnecessary. It would have been the only time that I would have told him he was wrong about something.

I love you Papa. You were a loving and courageous man, and I am thankful for the great example you were to all of us, and that you were able to seal Bryan and I. I am so lucky that I am your granddaughter. I know that you are where you need to be and am proud of you for living worthy to enable you to return there. I love you so much and will miss you, but I am thankful that your struggles are over.

P.S. Hug Aunt Ellen for me.

Love,
Kelly