Carol Fry

Carol Fry was called home to begin her eternal life with her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on Thursday, October 17, 2024, surrounded by loved ones.

The family will receive friends from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, October 23, 2024, at Geo. J. Carroll & Son Funeral Home, 602 Lindsay St., Gainesville, Texas.

Funeral services will be conducted at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, October 24, 2024, at First Baptist Church, 308 E. Broadway, Gainesville, Texas. The internment will follow at Fairview Cemetery.  Pallbearers will be Johnny Leftwich, Sparky Flint, Larry Smith, Steve Day, Eddie Hadlock, and Terry Hutcherson. Honorary pallbearers will be the Gideons International Cooke County Camp.

Carol was born to loving parents, J. W. and Lorene Cash, on May 2, 1940, in Wichita Falls, Texas. They moved to Gainesville in 1945.

After receiving from her parents a surprise Christmas gift of a baby sister her senior year, Carol graduated from Gainesville High School in 1958.  From her years in Gainesville schools, she formed many close friendships that continued throughout her life.  During her high school years, she loved making the drag and getting a coke with her friends.  Carol went on to graduate from Cooke County College before going to Wichita Falls, where she graduated with her Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education from Midwestern University in 1962.  While there, she was active in student professional organizations, student government, and Alpha Phi Sorority where she developed lifelong friendships.  Through a sorority sister’s boyfriend, who was a member of Kappa Sigma Fraternity, Carol was introduced to his fraternity brother, Claud Fry, which led to their engagement approximately three years later after Claud was discharged from the Army in 1965.

After graduating from Midwestern and before getting married, Carol taught elementary school for three years in Wichita Falls, claiming second grade to be her favorite.

Carol and Claud, or Mo as she called him, were united in Holy Matrimony on July 24, 1965, at First Baptist Church in Gainesville, Texas.  They spent 59 years carrying out their vows of love, honor, support, and commitment to one another.  Their first year and a half of marriage was spent in El Paso where she taught in Ysleta’s Head Start program and its elementary school.

They moved to Irving in December of 1966 after Claud transferred to the Pete, Marwick, Mitchell office in Dallas.  Carol was seven months pregnant when the move took place, and their first daughter, Kristen LeAnn, was born in March.  After Claud accepted a job at Gainesville Foundry, Inc., they moved to Gainesville on March 1, 1968.  Carol was happy to be home. Shortly after moving, they transferred their church membership from First Baptist El Paso to First Baptist Gainesville where she would become very active.  In January of 1972, another daughter, Keri Diane, was born into the family. Four years later a son, Kirk Ryan, was born completing their family.

A few short years after returning to Gainesville, Claud and Carol, Clyde and Retha Bond, Danny and Carolyn Akin, and Ned and Linda Newman met monthly in their homes for a meal and time of fellowship, often including the kids in different activities through the years.  Occasionally, other couples would join when they were in town, such as Eddie and Patsy Morris.  Years later she loved meeting with a larger group of ladies that had gone to school together and called themselves the 50s gals.

Through the years, Carol volunteered her time in the children’s and deaf ministries of First Baptist Church.  Later she enjoyed participating in a group of volunteer ladies that assisted the church staff in answering the telephone.  Carol thoroughly enjoyed the music ministry of the church, including weekly hymns and specials, and especially the choir productions put on to celebrate significant times of the year.  Carol loved her church family dearly and missed her Sunday School class after moving to Carriage House in Sulphur Springs in July of 2024.  She also missed the friendships she had developed at Pecan Tree in Gainesville over the previous three years.

Carol loved her family very much and so enjoyed the many special times spent together on family vacations, at holidays including Christmases in Wichita Falls at her grandparents’ homes, Thanksgivings held at her and Claud’s home, family reunions held at Leonard Park, and the many times spent at her parents’ home that was just half a mile down the road from her and Claud’s home.

Carol was a devoted wife, mother, grandmother, daughter, granddaughter, sister, aunt, and friend.  She always put others before herself, giving so much time and love to all.  Carol was always doing something to be of help to others in whatever way she could and loved buying gifts, always saying something like, “I wanted to, it wasn’t much, it was on sale, or it was 50
% off.”  She continued to share with others as she gave candy and cokes to fellow residents of the nursing homes.

Carol loved being Gram to her three granddaughters and was so very proud of them.  She loved holding babies and was elated when she learned she was finally going to be a grandmother in 1995 and again in 1998.  She often reminded the girls that she’d like to be a great grandmother one of these days.

As her children, we don’t have the words that come close to expressing what a loving mom she was and how very much we loved her in return.  She leaves us with sweet, precious memories that we will treasure forever.  She never stopped doing things for or worrying about us.  She asked us to this day to call when we made it to our destination when she knew we were on the road. We called her a worry wart but knew that was just an expression of her love for us.  We were always in her prayers.

Carol loved to read, listen to music, watch movies, attend Butterfield Stage productions, enjoy God’s beautiful creation, the many family pets, a good joke, and being the instigator of practical jokes in her younger years.

Above all, the most important thing to Carol was that all know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.  For more than ten years as a member of the Gideons International Cooke County Auxiliary, she enjoyed working with them to witness and present His word to all who needed to receive comfort and a saving knowledge of Him through the distribution of Bibles.  Even during the last three and a half years in a nursing home, she was always concerned about the residents’ and staff’s relationship with the Lord and continued to pass out as many New Testaments as possible.

She is survived by her husband, Claud E. Fry; daughter, Kristen Martin and husband, Brad; daughter, Keri Fry; son, Kirk Fry; granddaughter, Emily Rajovic and husband, Mickie; granddaughter, Mallory Isham and husband, Blake; granddaughter, Abbey Martin; sister, Julie Porter and husband, Hugh; nephew, Justin Cheek and wife, Kendra; nephew, Aaron Cheek; niece, Katey Sanders and husband, Royce; niece, Casey Mason and family; great niece, Kenzie Cheek; great nephew, Jameson Cheek; great niece, Kodi Cheek; great niece Micaela Sanders; aunt, Bonnie Hill; nephew-in-law, Tim Conway and wife, Linda and their family; nephew-in-law, Barry Jackson; niece-in-law, Darla Jackson; niece-in-law, Marla Jackson and family; and many cousins.

She was preceded in death by her parents J. W. and Lorene Cash; parents-in-law G. E. and Nina Fry; grandparents W. R. and Eva Moore; grandparents Ernest and Muriel Cash; brother Jay Cash; brother Ronnie Cash; nephew Billy Cash; brother-in-law Nick Cheek; sister-in-law Georgie Fae Jackson and husband James; sister-in-law Helen Conway and husband Henry; many aunts, uncles, and cousins.

Memorials may be made to First Baptist Church of Gainesville children’s ministry or to the Diabetes Association.