Taylor Funeral Home

Obituaries
Rev. Marion Thomas Caruthers
Date of Death or Service Feb 19, 2023
Rev. Marion Thomas Caruthers
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A funeral service will be held at 2:00 PM on Sunday, February 19, 2023 at the Taylor Funeral Home.  Place of rest will be in the Gillin Cemetery.  Visitation will be held on Saturday, February 18, 2023 from 4:00 PM until 8:00 PM and on Sunday from 1:00 PM until the time of service. To view a live stream of Rev. Caruthers' Funeral Service, click HERE.

For those desiring, Memorial Contributions are suggested to Camp Hickory Hills.

Marion Thomas Caruthers, age 85, passed away Friday, February 10th, 2023, at his home in Rockvale, Tennessee, surrounded by his loving family. He was preceded in death by his parents, Thomas Petway Caruthers and Elsie Mai Green Caruthers. He was also preceded in death by the love of his life, Elizabeth Joyce, who left this earth only four months ago.

He is survived by sons, Bruce Caruthers and his wife Sheree of Shelbyville, TN, Marty Caruthers and his wife Susan of Big Sandy, TN; daughter, Shawn White and her husband Donnie of Rockvale, TN; grandchildren: Adam (Jillian) Caruthers, Alex (Bree) Caruthers, Elisa (Kenny) Snow, Hannah Caruthers, Rebekah Caruthers, and  Sarah Caruthers, Haley (Jason) Griffin, and Hayden White; Great-Grandchildren: Alexia, Corbin, Mady, Laney, Mason, Brantley, Cashton, and Kohen Caruthers, Lane, Cam, Ryanne, and Irelyn Snow, Matilda Pope, and Haven Griffin; Brothers: Kenneth Caruthers, David (Marie) Caruthers, Vernon (Sharon Caruthers) and several nieces and nephews. Also surviving is his little dog, Jack, who he loved so much for eleven years.

The family would like to thank his caregivers who so lovingly took care of their dad and Papa for 4 years: Eddie and Carmen Ruiz, Evelyn Santiago, Paul (Stoney) Reese, and Linda Lewis. Also, a very special thanks to the Veteran’s Administration Home Based, Primary Care, and Avalon Hospice. 

After graduating from Bellevue High School, Marion married his loving wife. Marion and Joyce were married on May 18, 1956, and in September of 1956 Marion was sent to the Philippine Islands to serve his duty as an airman for the United States Navy. He was gone for two years and two days and did not get to see his beautiful wife the entire time. Marion served two more years in the Navy was stationed in Sangley Po int, Philippines Island and finished his service in Moffett Field, California. While he was serving his time in the Navy, Marion was not a Christian. Back home in White Bluff, his young wife and her mama spent a lot of time praying for him to get saved. After he returned home and after the birth of their first child, Marion crawled on his hands and knees to the altar and accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior during a revival.  A few months later, he felt the call into the ministry and began serving in various roles of his local church. Soon after, he was appointed to be the pastor of his first church and went on to continue pastoring several churches in the West and Middle Tennessee areas for the Church of God of Prophecy. He served on several committees for the State of Tennessee, COGOP. He especially enjoyed serving on the Church’s State Finance and Appropriation Committee, serving as a district overseer, working alongside his wife as boy and girl deans at Camp Hickory Hills, but his greatest honor was being a loving husband, Dad and Papa, and the Shepard of the sheep of those many churches that he served for 42 years. He touched the lives of not only the congregations of the churches he pastored, but also the communities that he lived in. 

During the years of his ministry, Marion also held some other jobs. For several years he worked for Hamer Cabinet Company in Nashville. He also worked for Taylor Funeral Home in Dickson, TN where he developed some very special relationships, including the one with the current owner, Tommy Marvin. After he moved to Big Sandy, TN he formed a very close relationship with the owner of Stockdale-Malin Funeral Home, Gordon Wheatley. Marion’s relationship he built with Gordon later helped bring Gordon to the Lord. Marion continued to work with the funeral home as needed until he moved from Big Sandy. 

Marion was a very humble man, and even though he earned several accolades during his years of ministry, he never asked for those titles to be attached to his name. His thirst to learn more and soak in everything he could, led him to read the Bible through cover to cover 127 times. Those hours spent reading absorbed in his mind and after losing his vision in 2016, he would gladly quote those scriptures and mentor those with any questions they wanted to ask about his favorite book… The B.I.B.L.E.  Marion answered his call into the ministry and was still touching the lives of every single person that walked into his presence during the last years of his life. Blind and bedridden for the last four years of his life, he continued to praise the Lord in that storm. His faith never wavered and now he has entered his ultimate reward. He can see, he can walk, he is with Joyce, and he with his Lord.

 

 

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