Born in Cleburne, Texas, on May 25th,1927, Evelyn Arwood was the eldest child of Mabry and Fannie Adams. She grew up just down the street from grandparents, whose home was a bustling center of activity, and a place that modeled the wonders of a big family. Once a Texan, always a Texan, once a lady, always a lady… this was Arwood.

Not everyone has a father who was an astronomer, inventor and author. Not everyone has a mother whose passion produced acres and acres of the most beautiful flowers in the world (or so thought Arwood as she grew). One could only wonder what distinctive contribution Arwood would make.

Piano lessons and singing gave Arwood her preferred venue to adding beauty to the life God had given her. During the years of a harsh depression, her emerging artistic flare needed to be combined with practical pursuits that fit the times. She studied business at Hardin Simmons University and Southern Methodist University of Dallas. All of Arwood’s skills would be used for nearly three-quarters of a century in serving others.

Bob became the love of her life. In 1958 they were married and Arwood, the Texan, moved to Maine, becoming a pastor’s wife. Soon she would also be a mother of four. Across the decades Arwood would leave an impression on hundreds and hundreds of people as being “that woman.” The woman who loved it all. She loved serving the church; loved being a mom, a cook, a hostess, and provider; loved supporting her husband and loved her God who had loved her more than words can express.

To know Arwood well was to know that when she prayed, she cried. Her Lord was that precious to her. Her faith, that fervent. In faith she taught her children to love the Lord, the Bible and serving others. While Arwood would say that her greatest joy was seeing her children serve the Lord, her children would say they do so to a great degree because of what she modeled for them.

It is probably true that a vast number of those who know Arwood would call her the most other-centered person they know. When you love others so much, what’s so difficult about hosting Vacation Bible School in your home while you and your husband are planting a church? What’s so difficult about helping Vietnamese refugees get on their feet in Marion, Ohio? What’s so difficult about sending your kids overseas into missions? What’s so difficult about constantly doing the thousands of things required for a community of faith to thrive? For Arwood, it wasn’t difficult. It was who she was.

Yet, no one had seen Arwood’s best. That didn’t appear until the grandkids arrived. Her expertise in loving her own children was a preamble for the masterpiece that emerged with the next generation. Ask those kids how they learned to sew? Ask them who never stopped because there was always one more way that she could serve them… and they will tell you about grandmother.

How does a person do it? How does someone not “rise to the occasion” from time to time, but rather live like this? It requires that they find their joy in the joy of others. That describes Arwood Ginn perfectly. She reveled in the joy and success of her husband, her children, and their children. And if you’re reading this, she very well might have reveled in your joy, too.

The little Texan girl, whose life nearly spanned a century, went to be with her Jesus in the wee hours of Monday morning, August 3rd. Jesus came, took her home, and introduced her to the glory that her soul longed for. Knowing where she is enables those who knew her well to say – “Then it is well with my soul, too.”

As lovely as a field of bluebonnets on a cool Texas mid-April morn, was Arwood Ginn. The most other-centered person one could ever know.

The family will receive friends on Friday, August 7, 2026, from 10:00 am to 10:45 am in the Chapel of Snyder Memorial Baptist Church.  Funeral Services will follow at 11:00 am in the Chapel followed by a Committal at Cumberland Memorial Gardens.

Services entrusted to Jernigan-Warren Funeral Home, 545 Ramsey St., Fayetteville, NC 28301

Online condolences may be sent to www.jerniganwarren.com