NEARER MY GOD TO THEE!

VIOLA SOPHIA LAROSE CARRON

July 12, 1908 - August 22, 2003
.
She was one of the 8 children of Daniel and Lena LaRose. As a young girl, she and her sister went with their mother to a gospel tent meeting led by a traveling gospel preacher. It was then that the 3 of them made the decision to give their lives to JESUS CHRIST. Her name was Viola Sophia LaRose Carron. She was my grandmother, my friend, my heroine, and my mentor. I called her Granny!
.

.

One day in her later life, I was driving her around Crystal City, Missouri. This Mississippi River town is just south of St. Louis. This was her hometown and she had a story to tell me about almost every block. We pulled up in front of the place where that tent meeting had been held in the early 1900's. She talked about her early years of faith...how important it was for her to be clothed with CHRIST in baptism.
.
She married Valentine Andrew Carron in her late teens and remained faithful to him until death. She loved him so much, yet it was not easy! He was a very gifted man! He was the head of the local union of Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company in Crystal City, MO. He was a man's man! He spent much time with his buddies fishing, hunting, and drinking. "Valle" and Viola had 3 children. Viola took them to church and Bible class. She taught them about JESUS. She encouraged music to be a big part of their lives. She hung in there year after year being the woman that she felt GOD wanted her to be. Their 3 kids grew up and married. Eventually, 9 grandchildren came along. I was the oldest of those grandchildren. (An earlier post, 8-7-08 - THO' HE SLAY ME, YET WILL I TRUST HIM, told part of that story!)
.
At the age of 9, I confessed CHRIST as my LORD and SAVIOR and was buried with Him in baptism. One day, I crawled up into Grandpa's lap and said, "I'm really sad! One day, you are going to die and you will not go to heaven with the rest of us." Those words came just at the right time. They took root in his heart. He was ready to question, read, and ponder. He read the Bible over and over. He, too, eventually made the decision for CHRIST. Before he died in his mid-sixties, he had become an elder - a shepherd of CHRIST's sheep. Viola had persevered with patience, prayers, and petitions. I saw her REAP what she SOWED! She lived on for 3 more decades.
.
After Grandpa's death, my parents, brother, sister, and I lived with Granny for a while. Crystal City had often been considered "home" for us since the military moved us alot. We had many years of "Granny" memories. My favorites were the music, the cooking, and just listening. I'd work alongside her and listen to her stories and strong opinions. We'd sit around in her living room and sing gospel music for hours-with and without the piano. I learned that cooking was about "a pinch of this" and "a heap of that".

.

On July 12, 2003 we threw her a big 95th birthday party in the form of a LaRose family reunion. Granny and her sister Bonnie were the only ones of that generation that were left. Their faith had remained over all those years. They have both gone on home to JESUS since then. Here I am with them on Granny's 95th birthday...

We had a great crowd of "LaRose's" that day...

Here is Granny with my mom, Kakie and two of her kids - my sister, Pam and me. We are surrounded by Pam's husband, Dalen, and my husband Steve, our 4 children and one daughter-in-love.
We had some great fun that weekend and even though Granny did not go with us, we took in one of her favorite pastimes...a St. Louis Cardinals' baseball game. Well, really her favorite pastime was to watch the games on TV, turn down the sound, and listen to color commentary by Jack Buck on the radio.











Here are Viola and Bonnie with their children, neices and nephews. Among them a former country and western singer, a former professional football player who had been one of the finalists for the Heismann trophy, and a Southern Gospel trio: THE SINGING SHASTEENS, a registered nurse, a university administrator, a college administrative assistant... For Viola and Bonnie, the people behind them were just family and to them the only thing that was really important was that each one of them would draw nearer to JESUS and pass His loving message on to the next generation.

.

Granny's life was one that was rich

with service and sharing her faith.

When she moved to the nursing home in her last years

she started a Bible study in the parlor.

One day a lady said,

"Aren't you the 'chicken soup lady'?

Aren't you the lady that brought chicken soup

to the people in your neighborhood when they were sick?"

She was!

She had even brought soup and encouragement

to that woman's house multiple times.

Now, here she was planting God's word again

in a different way...

and several in that nursing home believed

that JESUS was LORD and were baptized...

You reap what you sow!
.

A little over a month after her birthday celebration,

Granny passed from this earth...

5 years ago today.

Had she remained with us a little longer,

she would have turned 100 last month.

I said, "Thank you! See you later!"

Granny loved to sing gospel songs / hymns. One of her favorite songs has a rich history. Here are some stories behind it, the lyrics, and a link to listen:

.

NEARER MY GOD TO THEE!
Words: Verses 1-5, by British actress and poet, Sarah Adams, 1841; verse 6 by Edward Bickersteth
.

Poem put to Music by Bethany Mason, 1856
"One night, some­time af­ter ly­ing awake in the dark, eyes wide open, through the still­ness in the house the mel­o­dy came to me, and the next morn­ing I wrote down the notes."

.

This hymn is sung at the end of the 1936 mo­vie San Fran­cis­co, which was nom­in­at­ed for sev­er­al Acad­e­my Awards. It is al­so played by the ship’s band in Ti­tan­ic, win­ner of the Acad­e­my Award for best pic­ture of 1997.

.
There are al­so ma­ny in­spir­ing true life stor­ies as­so­ci­at­ed with this hymn. Some Ti­tan­ic sur­viv­ors said it was played by the ship’s or­ches­tra as the ocean lin­er went down.

.

Another story con­cerns the death of Amer­i­can pre­si­dent Wil­liam Mc­Kin­ley, as­sass­in­at­ed in 1901. Dr. Mann, the at­tend­ing phy­si­cian, re­port­ed that among Mc­Kin­ley’s last words were “‘Near­er, my God, to Thee, e’en though it be a cross,’ has been my con­stant pray­er.” On the af­ter­noon of Sep­tem­ber 13, 1901, af­ter five min­utes of si­lence across the na­tion, bands in Un­ion and Mad­i­son Squares in New York Ci­ty played the hymn in hon­or of the fall­en pre­si­dent. It was al­so played at a me­mor­i­al ser­vice for him in West­min­ster Ab­bey, Lon­don.

.
The hymn was al­so played as the bo­dy of as­sas­sin­at­ed Amer­i­can Pre­sid­ent James Gar­field was in­terred at Lake­view Cem­e­te­ry in Cleve­land, Ohio.

.

LYRICS:

.
Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!

E’en though it be a cross that raiseth me,

Still all my song shall be, nearer, my God, to Thee.

.
Refrain: Nearer, my God, to Thee,Nearer to Thee!

.
Though like the wanderer, the sun gone down,

Darkness be over me, my rest a stone.

Yet in my dreams I’d be nearer, my God to Thee.
.
Refrain
.
There let the way appear, steps unto Heav’n;

All that Thou sendest me, in mercy given;

Angels to beckon me nearer, my God, to Thee.

.
Refrain

.
Then, with my waking thoughts bright with Thy praise,

Out of my stony griefs Bethel I’ll raise;

So by my woes to be nearer, my God, to Thee.

.
Refrain

.
Or, if on joyful wing cleaving the sky,

Sun, moon, and stars forgot, upward I’ll fly,

Still all my song shall be, nearer, my God, to Thee.
.
Refrain
.
There in my Father’s home, safe and at rest,

There in my Savior’s love, perfectly blest;

Age after age to be, nearer my God to Thee.

.
Refrain

.
As Granny got older she often talked about how she was "growing closer to GOD", "understanding GOD more"..."becoming nearer to Him"...
.

As I looked online for the acappella singing of this dear hymn, what I found over and over again was how it was played instrumentally as the Titanic sank. Here are two versions:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5iCkYKLleE&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXiKClqEJgU

.
.