Lahoma Fay Greenwood, an emeritus International Mission Board missionary who shared the gospel among American Peoples in Guatemala, died Jan. 9, 2019. She was 84.
She was born February 21, 1934, in Newcastle, Texas, to Odus Mason and Estelle Roberts Mason and grew up in Petrolia and Wichita Falls, Texas. She met her husband, Richard, in high school and they married September 5, 1954, at the beginning of their college junior year. She graduated magna cum laude from Hardin-Simmons University in 1956 with a degree in business and religious education.
Greenwood knew from the time she was 10 years old that she wanted to be a missionary to a foreign land. She was appointed on December 13, 1962, by the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention to serve in Guatemala. She would live there for the next 33 years sharing the good news of Jesus Christ through writing books, publishing children’s literature, developing Bible memorization and study programs for women, and training church leadership.
In a missionary newsletter dated July 1964, the Greenwoods wrote: “Lahoma has quite a task on her hands trying to find a place for the things we brought with us (there are no closets) and getting the family settled into a new routine. She especially enjoys going to the churches to meet and help the ladies. The pastors wives here, as in the states, carry a tremendous load, and we find they have already begun to bestow their confidence in ‘doña’ Lahoma.”
Her investment in others did not end with her retirement. She moved to Duncan, Oklahoma, and continued her service through her involvement with the missions program at First Baptist Church, teaching Sunday School, and serving in the prayer room ministry. She also tutored at-risk children in the after-school program at Woodrow Wilson Elementary. Her contributions were recognized by the Gabriel House in 2014 when she was given the Halo Award for the volunteer of the year.
She is predeceased by her parents, Odus and Estelle Mason, and infant son Jon Marc. She is survived by her husband of 64 years, Richard Greenwood; four children: Stephen (Patty) Greenwood of Duncan, Paul (Sybil) Greenwood of Duncan, Jonathan (Melanne) Greenwood of Shawnee, Oklahoma, and Susan (Craig) Scates of Raleigh, North Carolina; nine grandsons; and one great-granddaughter; three sisters; and two brothers.
Funeral services were held on Jan. 12, 2019, at First Baptist Church in Duncan, Oklahoma. Her family has established a scholarship fund in her name for college students wishing to go into full time missionary service. Memorial contributions may be made to: Ouachita Baptist University, The Richard and Lahoma Greenwood Scholarship Fund, 410 Ouachita Street, Arkadelphia, Arkansas 71998.
Read a full obituary here.