Our Christy Girl From Durham Has Gone Home

Christy Ann Witherington
Obituary

Christy Ann Witherington died in her home in Durham, NC of natural causes on Wednesday, January 11, 2012. Christy was born August 14, 1979 in Durham, England where her parents lived from 1977 – 1980 while her father pursued his Ph.D. at the University of Durham. Christy graduated from P.L. Dunbar High School in 1997. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Purdue University in 2002 with a degree in experimental psychology. She completed her Masters in Analytics at North Carolina State University in May 2010. Since June 2010 she worked as a project scheduling consultant for IBM.

Christy is survived by her parents, Ann Sears Witherington and Dr. Ben Witherington III of Lexington; her brother, David Witherington of North Wales, PA; her grandmother, Joyce West Witherington of Charlotte, NC; her maternal aunt, Elaine Sears-Dennehy of Attleboro, MA; her paternal aunt, Laura Joyce Witherington of Jacksonville, FL; and her Russian “sister” Yuliya Tsutserova.
She is preceded in death by her paternal grandfather, Ben Witherington Jr, and her maternal grandparents, Ralph and Florence (Boucher) Sears.

Visiting hours will be held Tuesday, January 17, from 6-8 PM at Kerr Brothers Funeral Home on Harrodsburg Road. A special service of remembrance will be held on Wednesday, January 18, at 11 AM at First United Methodist Church. Interment will be at Blue Grass Memorial Garden. In lieu of flowers, charitable gifts in Christy’s name can be sent to the Lexington Humane Society, 1600 Old Frankfort Pike, Lexington, KY 40504 (www.adoptlove.net).
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THE BRIDGE OF FAITH

There are bridges we cross in life
To get from here to there
We cross them as we hurry on
And hardly even care.

Draw and covered bridges
A graceful span or two
They are never destinations
We’re just traveling through.

The bridge of faith is different though
It stretches to our end
From here to God’s eternity
Without a curve or bend.

You cross it in a moment
And find yourself at home
Safe in the arms of Jesus
Never more to roam.

We named our girl Christy Ann
A Christian she would be
She crossed before we said goodbye
Her bridge to eternity.

She built her bridge with gracious deeds
She persevered in love
The final plank was laid in place
By God himself above.

And as we build our bridge of faith
So we may go there too
We call to her across the divide
“Remember, we loved you.”