Tribute to Jenny Ann Smothermon Fletcher Woodyard

I met David's cousin, Jenny, on our wedding day in September 2009, but it felt like I had known her forever.  We were Facebook friends first.  She posted so much I felt like I knew everything about her.  After the wedding, she helped us move into our house, organized social gatherings with the fam, and invited us to her house in Nocona.  (I got to hold a chicken!)  The peaches she gave us that weekend are still in my freezer.  She pasted away in a car accident on September 30th.  Her death is a horrible shock to everyone.  I feel like there is so much more that we didn't have time for.  We think about her everyday.

I am reposting the letter her sister, Amy Jermana, wrote for her Memorial Service.  Since Amy could not come from Canada, her brother, Billy Smothermon, read it.  I think it sums up how much everyone cares for her.

How do you say goodbye to the person who has been your best friend for over 43 years? I feel like Jenny and I knew each other as well as any two people could know each other.  We always felt like we were twins that were born 13 months apart.  We’ve been through so much together and I can’t believe it’s over so soon.

Jenny didn’t have an easy life, but she never gave up, and she did find happiness in the town of Nocona, where she made many good friends and found the man who treated her the way she deserved to be treated. I would like to thank the people of Nocona and Jared for loving my sister as much as we in her family love her. The day she died was the worst day of my life, but I know that Heaven was rejoicing as they welcomed her home. Some people say that we all die alone. I’m glad to know this isn’t true. The Bible guarantees every Believer an escorted journey into the presence of Christ by the Holy Angels. Jenny was carried to Heaven by angels and I know I’ll see her again one day for all of eternity. While I’m still on this Earth, my heart will ache for the sister I always loved and the closeness that we shared. I’ll wake up every morning thinking about her and I’ll think about her during the day and when I go to bed at night. I’ll miss her beautiful smile, her positive outlook, her generosity, her love. Her journey is over but there are many people left behind. I just hope that everyone sees her life as a witness to what God can do in a person’s life.

Although we don’t understand why Jenny died so young, God has a plan for all of us and none of us are guaranteed tomorrow. I told Jenny that I loved her and that I appreciated her and that she was beautiful and that she was my best friend every chance I got and she told me the same kinds of things every chance she got. I don’t feel that we left anything unsaid. That gives me a certain amount of peace. Knowing that she is with our Heavenly Father gives me a great deal of peace. Knowing that we’ll meet again at the end of my life gives me even more peace.

I just pray that God will carry all of us in His hands through this, bring us even closer together and give us peace. I know that Jenny wouldn’t want any of us to suffer. She would want us to remember the happy times we shared with her and she would want us to love each other the way that she loved us and the way that we loved her.

Jenny’s Big Sister and Best Friend,
Amy

In Memory of Jenny Ann Woodyard, Jan 21, 1967 - Sept 30, 2010.