Services for Mrs. Lidia Chesney were held at 10 a.m. Monday, Sept. 18, 2017, at Pine Grove Baptist Church with the burial in the Pine Grove Baptist Church Cemetery. Bros. Rusty Walton and Lin Chesney will officiate.
Visitation was held from 5-7 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 17 at Milling Funeral Home of Union.
“Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.” – Matthew 5:5.
After 70 years of faithful service on earth, Lidia Antonia Chesney accepted Jesus’ invitation to Heaven in the early morning hours of Sept. 16, 2017. She left peacefully just as she would want, surrounded by her husband, her three daughters, and her granddaughter at their home in House.
For the first 31 years of her life, Lidia lived in the country of Honduras. She was born on Aug. 3, 1947 in the town of El Jicaral and raised by her mother Emilia Espinal and stepfather Luis. The family moved to Las Uvas (Choluteca), where Lidia lived until 1974, before venturing out on her own to the city of San Pedro Sula. Lidia supported herself there the only way she knew how – hard work. She did everything from working in a textile factory, to being a cook for a soccer team and housekeeper, to working in a pizzeria.
In June 1978, Lidia married Don in Honduras. Lidia left her beloved family and friends in Honduras to make a new life in the United States.
She perfected her English, doing so in the most American way possible – by watching television, mostly “Sesame Street” and the “Electric Company” on PBS. She also used a book, which was for learning Spanish, and used it instead to teach herself English.
On Jan. 23, 1992, Lidia became an American citizen with the help of her good friend and neighbor at the time, Jean Reynolds. She never took it for granted. Lidia believed in her right to vote, and she always did.
In this life, you may not come across someone as giving and caring as Lidia was. But she never talked about, or probably even remembered, the endless string of selfless things she did for others. She just did them because her Lord wanted her to, which was all the thanks she ever wanted or needed. Lidia always knew where she was would receive her true reward.
Until her illness, Lidia worked tirelessly in her garden to make sure those expecting fruits and vegetables from her every summer got them. Everyone she knows probably has a few jars in their kitchen of her produce she canned. She also enjoyed quilting.
She had a quiet demeanor and a small frame. Both were misleading. Inside was a woman who loved everyone in her path on a scale larger than life. Until her last breath, she loved her family, friends, acquaintances, and even strangers, more than herself. She never forgot about her family in Honduras, either. Lidia wrote to them faithfully and sent money every chance she could. Those fortunate enough to know Lidia best – her family – got to experience not only her abiding love, but also her great sense of humor and infectious laugh.
More than anything, she loved her Lord and her church. Lidia was baptized in 1985. She was a faithful member of Pine Grove Baptist Church and a fixture in her Sunday School class. Her marked-up and page-worn Bible was often in her hands until she was no longer able to hold it.
Lidia is survived by her husband of 39 years, Don Chesney; her daughter, Lisa Shaw and husband, Chris, of Madison, her daughter, Robin Spence and husband, Patrick, along with their daughter, Chesney (Lidia’s adored granddaughter) of House, and her daughter, Emily Withers, and husband, Mike, of College Station, Texas.
