Obituary for Leah Greenup
Leah Nannette Ballew Greenup was born on July 28, 1940, in Corsicana, Texas, to Robert Lee and Edna Elizabeth Butler Ballew. She stepped away to be with Jesus on Friday morning, January 15, 2021, in Amarillo, Texas.
She is preceded in death by her parents, two brothers-in-law, one sister-in-law, one nephew and many aunts, uncles and cousins. She is survived by her husband of 61 years, Charles Wayne Greenup of Canyon, Texas, her daughters, Lee Ann Greenup Ramsey and husband, David Ramsey, from Cortez, Colorado, and Nannette Yvonne Greenup Forman and husband, Andrew Forman, from Amarillo, Texas.
Four grandchildren: Charles David Bradford Ramsey and wife, Kelsey, from Fort Collins, Colorado; Caleb Aaron Forman and wife Alexzandra (Alex), from Aurora, Colorado; Hannah Elizabeth Forman Pigg and husband, Tate Pigg, from Amarillo, Texas, and Noah Joseph Forman and wife, Aiden, from Lakewood, Colorado. Five great-grandchildren, whom she absolutely adored: Jesse, Isabella and Joseph Levasseur; Joab and Alinea (Linny) Pigg.
She is also survived by her brother, Robert Lynn Ballew and wife, Velma, from Frost Texas, her sister, Elizabeth Ann Ballew Singleton from Rising Star, her sister-in-law, Kathryn Yvonne Greenup Blackmon and husband, Joe Lynn, of Missouri City, Texas, along with numerous nieces and nephews that she loved so very dearly.
Her favorite story to tell about the day of her birth was that, when she was born, prematurely (only weighing about a pound or so), she wasn’t breathing, which scared them all to death, understandably. But then, a car backfired on the street outside the house in which she was born, and she was startled back to life. And that was the beginning of this wonderful life Leah has lived for over 80 years.
Leah grew up in the small town of Frost, Texas, becoming big sister to Robert and Liz. One month before she turned 15, their father passed away suddenly, leaving their mother a widow. Leah suddenly found herself in the role of co-mothering her younger brother and sister.
She attended Frost schools during her school years, participating in FHA, cheerleading for the Frost Polar Bears and enjoying a rich social life and other activities with many friends she has stayed in contact with through all these years. After graduation, she attended Navarro Junior College in Corsicana, Texas, where she met and began dating Wayne who was living in Corsicana and was also attending Navarro. They fell in love and were married on December 5, 1959. From that point on, they were inseparable.
After marrying, they moved to Houston, Texas, and eventually had their two daughters, Lee Ann and Nannette. They moved to Missouri City, Texas, in 1973 and lived there until the year 2000, when they moved to Canyon, Texas, where she lived the remainder of her life and Wayne still lives today.
To say that Leah was an incredibly talented person is an understatement. She was a jack of all trades and, it seemed, a master at all. When she chose to do something, she did it with all of the excellence she could muster. To list just a few of her talents: sewing, embroidery, crochet, cooking, baking, cake decorating, costume design, singing, playing piano.
If someone…anyone…asked her to cook, bake, make, sew, repair anything, she didn’t think twice about it. She would say yes and then figure out how to do it. She was a pro at not only being able to do the thing she set out to do, but to completely envision it before she even started. Such a creative lady!
Birthdays and holidays were very important to her, and she celebrated fully. Decorations, table settings, special recipes, big meals…even costumes, if the occasion called for it. She went all out. But the most important part of every event was the family that was present.
She loved music. She loved everything from old hymns to popular music from “back in the day” to the Gaithers, all the way to the worship songs of recent years. I (Lee Ann) remember her telling me just recently how very much she loved the new song “Graves Into Gardens”! She loved hearing her family sing most of all. Her families of origin loved to gather around and sing together…and it was the most beautiful combination of voices and harmony you’ve ever heard. (Especially at family reunions…and she LOVED family reunions!)
That love for all things music has been passed down through generations to her daughters and their families, including the grandchildren and great-grandchildren. It brought her immense joy to hear her kids and their families singing and performing…whether vocals, guitar, piano, drums, ukulele, kazoo…or banging out a beat on a popcorn tin. She loved it all!
She loved her church. She loved every local church body that she’s been a part of all of her life. She always served in one or more ministries and enjoyed every second of it, truly working at it as if she was serving Christ Himself. She loved the people of the church and they loved her.
She loved her friends. She always had a smile, an encouraging word, a Scripture verse or some wisdom or life experience to share when someone needed it. Many a story has already been shared about the huge impact Mrs. Greenup/Mama Leah/Maya had in the lives that intersected with hers.
She loved her family. Her father, mother, younger brother Robert and younger sister Liz were so very special to her. Aunts, uncles, cousins, second-cousins. All held a very important place in her heart. As mentioned before, she treasured family reunions where they would all gather to eat, sing, tell stories, laugh incessantly, cry a little and reminisce about days gone by. The joy of Christ was always present when they all gathered together. It hurt her heart that, as time went on, reunions were fewer and farther between.
She loved her daughters. She has always showed great love and pride in anything they were a part of. For one thing, she and Wayne were relentlessly supportive of Lee Ann’s and Nannette’s years in the marching band at John Foster Dulles High School. Eight solid years of morning and afternoon practices, fundraising, bake sales, football games (away and at home), concerts, competitions, buying instruments and polishing white shoes. She was a Band Booster mom and gladly volunteered any chance she got.
And when each girl married, she adored her sons-in-law. No doubt if she could have chosen them herself, she would have chosen David Ramsey and Andy Forman to become her sons. And they have loved her as their own.
She adored her grandchildren and their spouses and her great-grandchildren. To her, they were all the most handsome, most beautiful, most talented in the whole world. Each and every one held a very special part of her heart. And if you asked her about any of them, get ready for some gushing! Through all the years, she never turned down the opportunity to watch them if it was possible…whether for a few hours or a few days. In fact, in recent months before she left us, even at the age of 80, she and Wayne were the first to offer to keep their two youngest great-grandchildren…ages 4 and 6 months. What pure joy they all brought to her life!
And she loved her husband. Oh, the love story of Wayne and Leah was one for the ages. Their complete devotion to each other was something that many people admired and sought to imitate. The two of them were an example to many a young couple just starting out together in life, but also to long-married couples who saw the possibilities of what a true, devoted, God-honoring marriage could be. Their’s is a legacy of love, patience, kindness, perseverance, sacrifice and service to each other that will be carried on in our family for generations.
Above all, she loved God with all her heart, mind, soul and strength. She never wavered from that deep love, even when she faced tough times in her life and her family’s lives that caused her to question God’s timing and purposes in it. But she always knew there was a purpose if we’ll all just look for it. She also knew that we may not know that purpose this side of heaven, but there was a purpose nonetheless.
She also knew the strong, undeniable power of prayer. She was quite the prayer warrior. And when you asked her to pray for something, you didn’t have to wonder if she would. She did! Fervently! And counted it as a great privilege to bring her heart requests to Jehovah-Shammah—the God who hears!
CS Lewis wrote, “The death of a beloved is an amputation.” A vital, irreplaceable part of our family has been amputated...cut off. Every part of our lives that once had Leah in it will now be empty. He goes on to say, “We’ll find thought after thought, feeling after feeling, action after action, that had [Leah] for their object. Now their target is gone. We will keep on, through habit, fitting an arrow to the string; then remember and have to lay the bow down.”
We will continue to grieve. Not only that, but we will live each day thinking about living each day in grief. But there is such great comfort knowing where Leah is. She won’t hurt any more. She won’t grieve any more. She’s breathing great big breaths of heaven’s air. She’s reunited with mother, father, family and friends who have gone before. And one day, we will all be reunited with her, too.
Her passing has brought much heartache. And it’s ok that we don’t understand why things like this happen. But the Bible tells us to trust with our heart, not with our mind. We can’t depend on our mind to help us figure this out. God is in control; his thoughts are not our thoughts and his ways are not our ways. But one thing we can be sure of: God is loving, faithful, gracious and merciful. God is good all the time, and all the time, God is good!
Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 13:12, “Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.”
So with that, we say goodbye. We now have to practice what we’ve learned from her. Now it’s our responsibility and our privilege as friends and family to carry on her legacy of love…love for God and love for others. The legacy to live selflessly, to give generously, to develop deep relationships, to make people feel like they matter to someone, to serve joyfully, and to one day, leave this life with no regrets. And a better place because we were here.
She is preceded in death by her parents, two brothers-in-law, one sister-in-law, one nephew and many aunts, uncles and cousins. She is survived by her husband of 61 years, Charles Wayne Greenup of Canyon, Texas, her daughters, Lee Ann Greenup Ramsey and husband, David Ramsey, from Cortez, Colorado, and Nannette Yvonne Greenup Forman and husband, Andrew Forman, from Amarillo, Texas.
Four grandchildren: Charles David Bradford Ramsey and wife, Kelsey, from Fort Collins, Colorado; Caleb Aaron Forman and wife Alexzandra (Alex), from Aurora, Colorado; Hannah Elizabeth Forman Pigg and husband, Tate Pigg, from Amarillo, Texas, and Noah Joseph Forman and wife, Aiden, from Lakewood, Colorado. Five great-grandchildren, whom she absolutely adored: Jesse, Isabella and Joseph Levasseur; Joab and Alinea (Linny) Pigg.
She is also survived by her brother, Robert Lynn Ballew and wife, Velma, from Frost Texas, her sister, Elizabeth Ann Ballew Singleton from Rising Star, her sister-in-law, Kathryn Yvonne Greenup Blackmon and husband, Joe Lynn, of Missouri City, Texas, along with numerous nieces and nephews that she loved so very dearly.
Her favorite story to tell about the day of her birth was that, when she was born, prematurely (only weighing about a pound or so), she wasn’t breathing, which scared them all to death, understandably. But then, a car backfired on the street outside the house in which she was born, and she was startled back to life. And that was the beginning of this wonderful life Leah has lived for over 80 years.
Leah grew up in the small town of Frost, Texas, becoming big sister to Robert and Liz. One month before she turned 15, their father passed away suddenly, leaving their mother a widow. Leah suddenly found herself in the role of co-mothering her younger brother and sister.
She attended Frost schools during her school years, participating in FHA, cheerleading for the Frost Polar Bears and enjoying a rich social life and other activities with many friends she has stayed in contact with through all these years. After graduation, she attended Navarro Junior College in Corsicana, Texas, where she met and began dating Wayne who was living in Corsicana and was also attending Navarro. They fell in love and were married on December 5, 1959. From that point on, they were inseparable.
After marrying, they moved to Houston, Texas, and eventually had their two daughters, Lee Ann and Nannette. They moved to Missouri City, Texas, in 1973 and lived there until the year 2000, when they moved to Canyon, Texas, where she lived the remainder of her life and Wayne still lives today.
To say that Leah was an incredibly talented person is an understatement. She was a jack of all trades and, it seemed, a master at all. When she chose to do something, she did it with all of the excellence she could muster. To list just a few of her talents: sewing, embroidery, crochet, cooking, baking, cake decorating, costume design, singing, playing piano.
If someone…anyone…asked her to cook, bake, make, sew, repair anything, she didn’t think twice about it. She would say yes and then figure out how to do it. She was a pro at not only being able to do the thing she set out to do, but to completely envision it before she even started. Such a creative lady!
Birthdays and holidays were very important to her, and she celebrated fully. Decorations, table settings, special recipes, big meals…even costumes, if the occasion called for it. She went all out. But the most important part of every event was the family that was present.
She loved music. She loved everything from old hymns to popular music from “back in the day” to the Gaithers, all the way to the worship songs of recent years. I (Lee Ann) remember her telling me just recently how very much she loved the new song “Graves Into Gardens”! She loved hearing her family sing most of all. Her families of origin loved to gather around and sing together…and it was the most beautiful combination of voices and harmony you’ve ever heard. (Especially at family reunions…and she LOVED family reunions!)
That love for all things music has been passed down through generations to her daughters and their families, including the grandchildren and great-grandchildren. It brought her immense joy to hear her kids and their families singing and performing…whether vocals, guitar, piano, drums, ukulele, kazoo…or banging out a beat on a popcorn tin. She loved it all!
She loved her church. She loved every local church body that she’s been a part of all of her life. She always served in one or more ministries and enjoyed every second of it, truly working at it as if she was serving Christ Himself. She loved the people of the church and they loved her.
She loved her friends. She always had a smile, an encouraging word, a Scripture verse or some wisdom or life experience to share when someone needed it. Many a story has already been shared about the huge impact Mrs. Greenup/Mama Leah/Maya had in the lives that intersected with hers.
She loved her family. Her father, mother, younger brother Robert and younger sister Liz were so very special to her. Aunts, uncles, cousins, second-cousins. All held a very important place in her heart. As mentioned before, she treasured family reunions where they would all gather to eat, sing, tell stories, laugh incessantly, cry a little and reminisce about days gone by. The joy of Christ was always present when they all gathered together. It hurt her heart that, as time went on, reunions were fewer and farther between.
She loved her daughters. She has always showed great love and pride in anything they were a part of. For one thing, she and Wayne were relentlessly supportive of Lee Ann’s and Nannette’s years in the marching band at John Foster Dulles High School. Eight solid years of morning and afternoon practices, fundraising, bake sales, football games (away and at home), concerts, competitions, buying instruments and polishing white shoes. She was a Band Booster mom and gladly volunteered any chance she got.
And when each girl married, she adored her sons-in-law. No doubt if she could have chosen them herself, she would have chosen David Ramsey and Andy Forman to become her sons. And they have loved her as their own.
She adored her grandchildren and their spouses and her great-grandchildren. To her, they were all the most handsome, most beautiful, most talented in the whole world. Each and every one held a very special part of her heart. And if you asked her about any of them, get ready for some gushing! Through all the years, she never turned down the opportunity to watch them if it was possible…whether for a few hours or a few days. In fact, in recent months before she left us, even at the age of 80, she and Wayne were the first to offer to keep their two youngest great-grandchildren…ages 4 and 6 months. What pure joy they all brought to her life!
And she loved her husband. Oh, the love story of Wayne and Leah was one for the ages. Their complete devotion to each other was something that many people admired and sought to imitate. The two of them were an example to many a young couple just starting out together in life, but also to long-married couples who saw the possibilities of what a true, devoted, God-honoring marriage could be. Their’s is a legacy of love, patience, kindness, perseverance, sacrifice and service to each other that will be carried on in our family for generations.
Above all, she loved God with all her heart, mind, soul and strength. She never wavered from that deep love, even when she faced tough times in her life and her family’s lives that caused her to question God’s timing and purposes in it. But she always knew there was a purpose if we’ll all just look for it. She also knew that we may not know that purpose this side of heaven, but there was a purpose nonetheless.
She also knew the strong, undeniable power of prayer. She was quite the prayer warrior. And when you asked her to pray for something, you didn’t have to wonder if she would. She did! Fervently! And counted it as a great privilege to bring her heart requests to Jehovah-Shammah—the God who hears!
CS Lewis wrote, “The death of a beloved is an amputation.” A vital, irreplaceable part of our family has been amputated...cut off. Every part of our lives that once had Leah in it will now be empty. He goes on to say, “We’ll find thought after thought, feeling after feeling, action after action, that had [Leah] for their object. Now their target is gone. We will keep on, through habit, fitting an arrow to the string; then remember and have to lay the bow down.”
We will continue to grieve. Not only that, but we will live each day thinking about living each day in grief. But there is such great comfort knowing where Leah is. She won’t hurt any more. She won’t grieve any more. She’s breathing great big breaths of heaven’s air. She’s reunited with mother, father, family and friends who have gone before. And one day, we will all be reunited with her, too.
Her passing has brought much heartache. And it’s ok that we don’t understand why things like this happen. But the Bible tells us to trust with our heart, not with our mind. We can’t depend on our mind to help us figure this out. God is in control; his thoughts are not our thoughts and his ways are not our ways. But one thing we can be sure of: God is loving, faithful, gracious and merciful. God is good all the time, and all the time, God is good!
Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 13:12, “Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.”
So with that, we say goodbye. We now have to practice what we’ve learned from her. Now it’s our responsibility and our privilege as friends and family to carry on her legacy of love…love for God and love for others. The legacy to live selflessly, to give generously, to develop deep relationships, to make people feel like they matter to someone, to serve joyfully, and to one day, leave this life with no regrets. And a better place because we were here.