Larue Carnes Kelsoe

LaRue Carnes Kelsoe, 94, a resident of Luverne, Alabama, passed away peacefully at Crenshaw Community Hospital on Tuesday, August 1st, 2023. Funeral services for LaRue will be held at 11 AM on Friday, August 4th, from the Chapel of Turners Funeral Home with Brother Clay Crum officiating. She will then be laid to rest beside her husband in Mt. Ida Cemetery with Turners Funeral Home of Luverne directing. The family will receive friends at the funeral home on Friday for one hour prior to the service.

Y'all, I don't believe there are enough adjectives to be able to thoroughly capture the many sides of LaRue Kelsoe, AKA "MeMe" to the VIPs in her life....her grandchldren and great-grands! She was everything a Southern woman was supposed to be: a fantastic cook, a tender of gardens, a savvy homemaker, and a social butterfly with just the right amount of sass. First of all, if you were a member of the family, you knew where you were supposed to be every Saturday at lunch and once a month on Sundays. It was highly recommended you not be late either. What time should you be there? Oh, that would be as soon as the bread came out of the oven! The family can't really decide on a favorite dish though. Her white peas and dressing were the best, especially when served with a side of the crispiest cornbread possible. Evidently, that lemon pie was as near to heaven as you could get on this earth. Her kitchen was happily open to anyone in the family who wanted to learn how to emulate her skills...as long as you were competent from the start and didn't get in her way!

She proved just how smart she was when she was able to parlay those necessary homemaking skills into expanding her active social calendar. If there was a club in the area, from quilting to gardening, you can bet LaRue was going to be a part of it. Not only did they allow her to indulge in hobbies and interests she loved, but it also allowed her to keep up with all the "news" she needed to know. Honestly though, she did just adore spending time with other people so she always had the best time with her clubs. LaRue loved expressing her creative side through her beautiful quilts, but it was in her garden that she truly shined. There wasn't a flower she couldn't grow and she gloried in her own personal Eden around her home. When it was all in bloom, it was a glorious sight to see.

Now, if you gathered from all of the above that LaRue was a strong-willed and determined kind of woman, you would be correct! Like most Southern women, she had plenty of opinions and was generous enough to share them with everyone she loved especially. You could count on her to always be her open and honest self with you so that you never doubted where you stood, which is really becoming a rare trait. Of course, there were two ways of doing things: LaRue's way and the wrong way. After all, she just wanted to make sure you knew how important it was to own a dining table before you bought a horse (and no, that's not a typo)!

Obviously, there was a lot of love and laughter in the Kelsoe clan. There are truly too many humorous stories to tell about her adventures. From questionable driving skills to her sharp wit, LaRue was quite simply one of a kind. The last few years were difficult at times, but she never lost her phenomenal sense of humor or ability to help her loved ones find ways to laugh through it all. That means the world to all of them because she was truly a cherished part of their family. She loved going on girls' trips with her beloved daughters, though please plan for the mountains as she had no desire to spend her time in the water getting basted like a turkey in the sun! It's stories like these that have upheld them all over the years and will ensure her legacy lives on in all of them for many more years to come.

LaRue was preceded in death by her husband, Clemon Kelsoe; parents, Sam J. & Lauretta Jayroe Carnes; and siblings, Velma Murphy, Ina Ruth Wallace, Palmer Carnes, Gaston Carnes, Jake Carnes, and Lloyd Carnes. She is survived by her daughters, Paulette (Donny) Bodiford, Dianne (Lynn) Johnson, Sherlynn Kelsoe, and Panda (Mickey) Jones; grandchildren, Lorrie (Shane) Lee, Amy (Marty) White, Courtney (Mark) Morrow, Lacy (Jessie) Taylor, Jeremy Jones, and Kala (Thomas) McNair; great-grandchildren, Luke Johnson, Zack Johnson, AJ Taylor, Lynlee Taylor, Kennedy McNair, Eleanor LaRue McNair; and a host of nieces, nephews, extended family members, and friends.

Active pallbearers will be Shane Lee, Marty White, Mark Morrow, Jessie Taylor, Jeremy Jones, and Thomas McNair.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial donations be made to the Mt. Ida Cemetery Fund, c/o Roxine Currie, 3752 Mt. Ida Road, Luverne, Alabama 36049.