Carolyn Joy Strader

Carolyn Joy Strader, age 90, passed away on Wednesday, November 26, 2025, at Hamilton Hospital in Olney, Texas. Visitation will be on Thursday, December 4, 2025, from 5:00 to 6:30 pm, in the Chapel of Lunn Funeral Home. Funeral services will be held on Friday, December 5, 2025, at 1:00 pm at the First Baptist Church of Olney, with Dr. Chad Edgington officiating. Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Lunn Funeral Home of Olney.

Carolyn Joy, which she would say stood for “Jesus, Others, and You,” Strader was born on December 5, 1934, to the late Jacob Carroll and Alta (Cocanougher) Turner in Sudan, Texas. She married Wilmar Strader on May 1, 1953, and they spent over sixty years together before he preceded her in death in 2016. When Carolyn lived on the family farm in the valley in Lyford, Texas, and when her children were small, she led a morning children’s Bible study every Saturday, rain or shine. She moved to Olney in 2002 and became a member at the First Baptist Church of Olney; that same year, she started Operation Christmas Child, and this year alone, the operation has filled over 600 shoeboxes. Carolyn radiated Jesus to everyone she met and was a great prayer warrior. Every morning, she prayed for the people around her by name, her family, and the nurses and caregivers at the nursing home, being at the top of her list. Carolyn was artistic and loved to paint, and thoroughly enjoyed teaching others to paint. Even after moving to the nursing home in July, she continued to teach others the joy of painting.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Wilmar Strader; her parents; her sister, Ann Benson; and her grandson, Tim Beavers.

Carolyn is survived by her three sons and daughters-in-law: Donald and Patty Strader of Tahlequah, Oklahoma, Dennis and Belinda Strader of Corpus Christi, Texas, and Phil and Natalie Strader of San Antonio, Texas; her two daughters and son-in-law: Lynn Strader of Fredericksburg, Texas and Pam and Matt Searcey of Olney, Texas, eleven grandchildren, fifteen great-grandchildren, and two great-great grandchildren.

Memorial donations in memory of Carolyn Joy can be made to the Operation Christmas Child Shoe Box Ministry C/O First Baptist Church, P.O. Box 734, Olney, TX 76374.