Edna Thomas Medlin's Obituary
Edna Thomas Medlin
Lakeland – Edna Thomas Medlin was born Edna J. McCants on February 7, 1928 in Carbur, Florida to Shellie Whiddon McCants and Walter Malachi McCants. She went to heaven on Friday, August 30, 2019 at 3:05 pm. Though her birthday was February 7th, for most of her life, it was celebrated on February 2nd. It wasn’t until November of 1975 when her sister, Dorothy McCants Sumner, passed away that she learned that their birthdays had been mixed up as children and they had celebrated on each others birthday all their lives.
Edna had married Curtis Oliver Thomas in 1945 and together they pastored many different Florida churches in the Church of God, including Thonotasassa, Tavares, Doctors Inlet, Highland City and Coconut Grove. When Curtis left the ministry, they moved to St. Louis, Missouri for approximately 4 years and then back to Lakeland, Florida where they opened a restaurant, Gold Nugget Fried Chicken.
Edna worked in banking for the better part of her adult life. Though only making it to the 10th grade, she was great with numbers and was promoted to Branch Manager where she earned the trust and respect of her customers and coworkers. She retired from Bank of America.
Despite her busy schedule working and raising a family, she was always involved in various ministries in the church. In the days when they were pastoring she ran the youth group which was then known as YPE (Young Peoples Endeavor) and the ladies ministry known, at the time, as LWWB (Ladies Willing Worker Band). Even when they were no longer in the ministry she remained very active in the Ladies Ministry, and in later years, the Senior Ministry.
Edna was always a doer, as were all of her seven siblings, raised during the depression by a single mother. One of her nieces called her the last of the “Steel Magnolias”. If there was work to be done, food to be prepared, an ailing person to be cared for, she was there in the middle of it all.
Some years after Curtis’ death in 1982, she married Alvin Medlin and they continued their involvement in church ministry including missions trips and a trip to the Holy Land. She also had the privilege, in 1979, of visiting England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales courtesy of, and accompanied by, her eldest son Curtis (Bud) and his wife Welyne Morton Thomas.
Following the death of Alvin Medlin, with her health declining, she lived with her son David and his wife Sandra Farley Thomas for the last eight years of her life. She was Sandy’s constant companion and that forged a very strong bond between them.
Edna enjoyed shopping and spending time with the people she loved. She loved being outdoors and watching the birds, squirrels and butterflies. She loved Southern Gospel Music and enjoyed her son-in-law, Steve’s, Bluegrass Music as well as the fishing trips he took her on. I don’t know if there was anything though, that gave her more pleasure than small children and babies; she loved watching them play and would often sit on the front porch to watch them as they walked home from school. She will be greatly missed by family and friends alike.
Edna and Curtis had five children, Sharon Thomas Sellers, Curtis Monroe Thomas, Veronica Thomas Durrwachter, David Oliver Thomas and Kenneth Hugh Thomas. She was preceded in death by both of her husbands and two children; her youngest son, Ken Thomas and her eldest daughter Sharon Sellers and a grandson, Blake Montgomery Thomas. She is survived by three children, twelve grandchildren, twenty great-grandchildren and six great-great grandchildren.
Though her passing is very sad to those of us who love her, we know that we will see her again with her health and vitality fully restored.
Visitation will be Friday , Sept. 6th from 6-8 pm at Gentry Morrison Funeral Home, Southside Chapel, 1727 Bartow Rd. Lakeland. Funeral services will be conducted Sat. Sept. 7th at 11 am at Trinity Life Church of God, with interment to follow at Fitzgerald Cemetery.
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