Vining, Deborah Marie Cole (Mrs. John Vining)

6/22/2007

Jan. 9, 1953 - June 22, 2007

A Memorial Service of Celebration was held on Wednesday, June 27, 2007 at the Abbeville United Methodist Church celebrating the life of Deborah Marie Cole Vining, 54, who passed away Friday, June 22, 2007.

Deborah is survived by her husband, Rev. John L. Vining of Abbeville, two sons, Ryan Vining and his wife Karrie of Carlyss, Louisiana; and Andrew Vining of Abbeville; two grandchildren, Alyssa Tesh Vining of Carlyss, Louisiana and John Tyler LaCas of Monroe, Louisiana; and numerous nieces and nephews.

Deborah and John celebrated their 34th wedding anniversary on June 2nd just prior to her death. Words cannot begin to express the tremendous love and care that she gave as a wife, mother and grandmother, especially as a grandmother, for the light of her life was her granddaughter. They have a spiritual bond that simply cannot be explained other than it is a God-thing. One thing that Deborah prayed for consistently was a reconciliation and reunion for Tyler with the family. That prayer was answered at Thanksgiving 2007.

Deborah was a teacher, having graduated from Northeast Louisiana University with a degree in Elementary Education. During her teaching career she taught at Caldwell Parish Junior High in Columbia, Louisiana; Oak Park Middle School in Lake Charles, Louisiana; Erath Middle School in Erath, Louisiana; and in the Masonic Lodge Dyslexia Program in Abbeville, Louisiana.

Most importantly she had a God-given gift and ability to teach. She could present matters of faith in a very practical, understandable and applicable way. She was instrumental in forming the Renegade Angels Sunday School class at the Abbeville United Methodist Church and taught the class for almost six years until the onset of cancer. She was a woman of great faith, deep prayer and immense devotion, wisdom and insight to the Scriptures.

At the time of her death she was working as a case manager for the Abbeville United Methodist Disaster Recovery Station. Her ministry in this work was to help clients recover and rebuild following Hurricane Rita. She had a natural love and compassion for the people in need and was able to translate that into tangible aid for them.

The support of so many covenant brothers and sisters in the ministry and from the Abbeville and Pecan Island churches for me and my family has been a blessing from God for which we are extremely grateful. The PPR evaluation even noted how the church had grown in doing and understanding of its ministry through her death as they reached out to us and took care of many of the regular ministerial duties. Even in and through her death, Deborah was still teaching.

John Vining

Source: 2008 Louisiana Annual Conference Journal