In Memory of

Neoma Frances Guinn

August 11, 1935 - April 1, 2021

Obituary

Neoma Frances Guinn, age 85 (8-11-1935 to 4-1-2021) passed away after an extended stay at the Lees Summit Medical Center.

Graveside services will be held Monday, April 5, 2021, 10:00 AM, at Lee’s Summit Historical Cemetery located off of 291 Hwy 3rd St. Following the service family and friends are invited to celebrate her life at a local restaurant.

Neoma Guinn was born August 11, 1935, in Jasper County, Missouri.  Daughter of John and Effie Holman Scroggins.  She was previously married to Carol Gene Guinn (now deceased).  Lived her adult life in Raytown, and the last 29 years as a Lee’s Summit resident.  She retired from the IRS after 25 years of service.

She is survived by her children – Karen Chamberlain, Brenda Fitzgerald, Michael Guinn and his fiancé, Laura (Glendale, AZ), Cynthia Weyhofen and her husband, Juergen, Daniel Guinn, Julie Smith and her husband, Mark P Smith (las Vegas, NV); along with 9 grandchildren – Gregory King, Ryan Fitzgerald, Christopher Guinn, Lacey Carruthers, Taylor Bates, Kyle Fitzgerald, Abigail Smith, Mathew Smith and Nicholas Smith….along with numerous great grandchildren, other relatives and friends.

She was much-loved and will be greatly missed.  Her happiness now is with God and the Angels above in heaven.

Condolences

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Karen,
I’m so sorry to hear of your mom’s passing. I was hoping I could attend the service but can’t due to work. I’ve been through this myself, and I know it’s hard. Know that I’m thinking of you, sweetie.

I would like to say thank you to this beautiful family for allowing me to know your mom and grandmother Neoma was a wonderful person that loved her family sending prayers and condolences for your loss

**all my love Mom**
Funeral Service for Neoma Guinn given by Pastor Gary Snowden

“Dancing in the Sky” (song played)

We gather here this morning to honor the memory of Neoma Guinn and to reflect upon the life that she lived and the positive impact that she made on so many people. We come as well to express our love and sympathy for those family members she has left behind. We gather here as well to seek words of comfort and encouragement from the Scriptures that speak to us so powerfully of the blessed hope of eternal life for all of those who place their faith and trust in Jesus Christ.

Neoma was born on August 11, 1935 in rural Jasper County near Joplin, MO to John and Effie Scroggins. John worked in a factory as well as in the lead mines in southwest Missouri while Effie had her hands full with 12 children to help raise. Neoma was the 11th of the dozen children born into the Scroggins family. Times were hard for the family and they lived in a small two-bedroom house with an outhouse for a bathroom.

Neoma met her future husband Carol Guinn at church when they were still both teenagers and they were married on Nov. 28, 1952 at Bell Center near Joplin. Carol’s parents spelled his name with just one r and one l, just like the common girl’s name, and that produced a few mix-ups along the way, including the time that he and one lady in his department at the Kansas City Star received a box of chocolates for Valentine’s Day.

Just a little over a year later, the first of six children to be born into the Guinn household made her appearance when Karen was born Dec. 13, 1953. The next three children were spaced out every 2 years before the final 2 children were born. The growing family moved to Kansas City in 1957 when Carol took a job at the Kansas City Star. They lived initially in Kansas City before moving to Raytown in 1968. All of the children studied at and graduated from Raytown South High School. Neoma herself completed her G.E.D. at the age of 40 since she had married before completing high school in Joplin.

Neoma was divorced from Carol in 1992 after some 35 years of marriage, but they remained amicable in their relationship with one another. After completing her G.E.D., Neoma went to work for the Internal Revenue Service and worked for them from 1980-2005 when she retired. Her duties included working as payroll clerk and in the mail room. She moved here to Lee’s Summit in 1992 and bought the home she was living in at the time of her death in 1994.

Neoma had a huge caring heart when it came to meeting the needs of her family and others. Her children shared countless stories and examples with me when I met with them on Saturday morning about her incredible generosity and sacrificial giving of her time and energy to help others. She served as a foster mom for the Highlands Orphanage, an agency supported by her church, and over the course of the years took in 12 different foster kids in addition to caring for her own 6 children. These were children who were in the system and awaiting adoption. She prayed regularly for these children and witnessed a miraculous healing of one child born with club feet.

Her kindness was extended on one occasion to a pizza delivery man who arrived on a cold winter day without adequate warm clothing. Neoma had one of her children provide him with their own coat and gloves. She helped family members when needs arose, paying for funeral expenses and care that was required. Neoma frequently provided groceries to folks who hand insufficient food to feed their families.

Neoma was very active in her church, especially when the children were younger. As they grew, the Guinn’s home was a gathering place for many meetings and parties of different church groups—teenagers and adults alike. The family would host visiting teams of young people who were traveling to or through town on their mission trips. Carol earned a modest salary at the Star where he worked long hours, but the family never lacked for what they needed as he provided the clothes they needed as well as helping them obtain cars as they got old enough to drive.

Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays were also special events in the home and Neoma was a great cook according to her children, who also confided in me that she loved sweets. She had a humorous side to her as well that came out in one of the other holidays she enjoyed decorating for and celebrating—Halloween. On one occasion she put a box that appeared to be a coffin in the front yard and placed a Frankenstein dummy in it. At one of the Sunday School class parties for an adult group, she and Carol came up a gag gift—a skeleton of a real boar’s head that was wrapped in a box. The winner was told they had to take it home before opening it, but they revealed what it was to the rest of the class.

Neoma had a strong faith in God and believed as well in the existence of angels, even claiming to have seen at least one on May 30, 1986 that plucked a beautiful flower from the earth. In a handwritten note in her Bible, Neoma wrote “I’m in awe all the time at how good God is to me—and totally surprised at His mercy and so thankful.” Another note she wrote regarding her breast surgery on Aug. 26, 1985 says, “God has always smiled on me, all through my life. Maybe He will this time also.” A follow-up two-word note declares simply, “He did.”

When I asked the children to summarize Neoma’s character and her impact on them, they mentioned her standing faithfully by them whatever they did and that she always found a way to be happy. Neoma could be a bit bossy, never losing the sense of responsibility that a mother feels for the well-being of her children. She also had a 6th sense to know when they were in trouble, even before they contacted her to say anything. Neoma was clearly committed to caring for her children and her grandchildren as well, for she loved them deeply.

Neoma’s health declined this year as she battled kidney disease and a series of urinary tract infections, including one that led to sepsis from which she was unable to recover. She passed away on April 1st at the age of 85. She is survived by her children, Karen Chamberlain, Brenda Fitzgerald, Michael Guinn and his fiancée Laura of Glendale, AZ, Cynthia Weyhofen and her husband Juergen, Daniel Guinn, and Julie Smith and her husband Mark Smith of Las Vegas, NV. Additional survivors include her 9 grandchildren: Gregory King, Ryan Fitzgerald, Christopher Guinn, Lacey Carruthers, Taylor Bates, Kyle Fitzgerald, Abigail Smith, Matthew Smith, and Nicholas Smith along with numerous great grandchildren, other relatives, and friends.
“I’m Free”

Don’t grieve for me, for now I’m free
I’m following the path God has laid you see
I took his hand when I heard his call
I turned my back and left it all.

I could not stay another day
To laugh, to love, to work or play
Tasks left undone must stay that way
I found my peace at the close of day.

If my parting has left a void
Them fill it with remembered joys
A friendship shared, a laugh, a kiss
Oh yes, these things I too will miss.

Be not burdened with times of sorrow
I wish you sunshine of tomorrow.
My life’s been full, I savored much,
Good friends, good times, a loved one’s touch.

Perhaps my seemed all to brief
Don’t lengthen it now with undue grief.
Lift up your hearts, and peace to thee
God wanted me now, He set me free.

A handwritten note on this poem states, “The clock of time is wound but once and no one can change it. If I have to go tomorrow, I’ve had a great life.”

Sugarland – “Mother” (song played)

In his gospel in which he takes a total of 21 chapters to describe the life and ministry of Jesus, John dedicates almost ¼ of those chapters—5 in all—to Jesus’ words to His followers on the night before His crucifixion. Chapters 13 through 17 of John’s gospel contain such powerful passages as the giving of a new commandment by Christ—that we love one another as He loved us. These chapters also provide Jesus’ most extensive teaching about the coming of the Holy Spirit to be the Comforter in His place. He concludes this wonderful section of teaching with what can truly be called the Lord’s Prayer in chapter 17, praying for us to experience His unity, His peace, and to be sanctified in the truth of His Word.

Here also we find words of comfort in chapter 14 about a future home that Christ is preparing for us. I invite you to listen to the words of our Lord as He describes His role in preparing a place for us to be with Him for all eternity. (Read Jn. 14:1-6).

Knowing that His absence will cause them to experience sorrow and pain, Jesus says in v. 1, “Let not your hearts be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.” The antidote to a troubled heart is faith and trust in God. When life seems to crumble apart and tumble in upon us, Jesus encourages us to believe and trust in Him. As a loving Heavenly Father, God will never abandon us in our time of greatest need. Jesus says in Heb. 13:5, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you.” Come what may in life, our Lord will be there for us, giving us the strength and encouragement to carry on. The apostle Paul sums this truth up so powerfully in the closing verses of Romans 8 when he writes, “I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Absolutely nothing—not even death itself—will ever be able to separate us from God’s love in Christ.

Not only can there be no separation from God in a spiritual sense, for Jesus goes on to tell us in verses 2 and 3 that there will not be a physical separation from Him either in the future. That’s because He is preparing a place for us to spend all of eternity with Him—in His very presence. When we are expecting guests in our homes, especially if it’s someone that we haven’t seen for a while, most of us go to the extra effort of making extensive preparations to ensure that everything is just right to welcome these guests into our homes. We vacuum, dust, pick up items that are scattered around the house, and do all we can to make certain that these special guests—be they family or friends—receive the best hospitality we can offer.
When Jesus tells us that He has gone to prepare a place for us, I can’t imagine Him doing any less than we would to welcome folks into our homes. Because of His great love for us, He’s preparing a special, beautiful place for us in heaven. And yet for all its beauty which the Bible describes in the book of Revelation—the golden streets; the foundation stones of the walls being precious jewels; gates made of pearls; a place where death, sorrow, pain, and tears are known no more—for all that heaven is in its beauty, the thing that will make heaven the blessed place that it is will not be its physical attractiveness. The most beautiful aspect of heaven is the fact that Jesus our Savior will be there. Jesus says, “I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.”

Thomas, who struggled at times with doubts and a failure to understand Jesus’ teachings, has difficulty comprehending what Jesus is saying and he voices his confusion here. “Lord,” he says, “we don’t know where You’re going. How do we know the way?” Jesus answers with words of assurance, explaining the only means by which any person can ever hope to come into God’s kingdom when He replies, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” His death on the cross made a way for us to know God personally and to experience His forgiveness. Through repenting or turning from our sins and placing our faith and trust in Him, Jesus freely offers us forgiveness for our sins and the gift of eternal life.

Jesus offers one more promise in this 14th chapter of John that we need to hear this morning. In v. 27 He says, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.” We need not fear today, nor the future that lies ahead, for Jesus has promised us His unfailing peace for the journey. He will walk with us every step of the way, and when our time on earth is finished, He will take us to that heavenly home that He’s carefully and lovingly prepared for us.

I won’t pretend to tell you this morning that I know exactly what heaven is going to be like. That’s one of those mysteries that God has not fully revealed to us in His Word. Our hope and confident trust today though is that Neoma is praising the Lord and blessing His name together with the many that have gone on before us. We know that the heavenly bodies that God has prepared for us will be free from the suffering, illnesses, and imperfections which our earthly bodies endure. We can also be assured based on the Bible’s promises that one day there is going to be a glorious reunion in heaven in the presence of God. As the words of that old hymn express it so well, “When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be. When we all see Jesus, we’ll sing and shout the victory.”

Prayer

“The Old Rugged Cross” – Alan Jackson (song played)

Visitation

Langsford Funeral Home
115 SW 3rd St
Lee’s Summit, MO 64063

Services

Monday, April 5, 2021
10:00 AM Graveside
Lee's Summit Cemetery
806 SE 3rd St.
Lee's Summit, MO 64063