Carolyn G. Stearns

Family will receive friends on Friday, October 20, 2023, at 11:30 a.m. until time of service at 12:30 p.m. at Friendship Missionary Baptist, 1775 West Broad Street, Columbus, OH 43223. Interment: Forest Lawn Memorial Gardens.

Carolyn Gwendolyn Stearns, 85, of Reynoldsburg, Ohio, transitioned peacefully in her home, October 10, 2023.

Carolyn was born May 28, 1938, in Washington D.C., to Mary Frances Cessor raised in Calvert County, Maryland. She relocated to Columbus, Ohio in 1950. She was a devoted member of The Friendship Missionary Baptist Church, where she faithfully served in The Smith-Simmons Scholarship Ministry, The Willing Workers Ministry, and The Church Anniversary Committee.

Carolyn retired from Ohio Bell in 1991 to be a doting grandmother for the first time. Carolyn enjoyed working in the yard and dancing in her free time. Carolyn was preceded in death by her mother Mary Frances Cessor and her stepfather, Charles Cessor.

Left to cherish her memory is her loving husband, and caregiver, to whom. she was married for 51 years, Preston Stearns; two children, Carla (Carlton) Edwards, and John “J.P.”  (Crystal) Stearns, and stepdaughter Bonitta (Booker) Smith; sisters Marcia (Charles) Brown and C. Kay (Jim) Neale; four grandchildren, Ashton (Jeremy) Thacker, Amber Grigley, and Camryn and John “JJ” Stearns Jr; Niece and nephew Monica (Ron) Bess and Charles “Chip” (Kendra) Brown; Special nieces and nephew Deanna (Mike) Richards, Tiffany (Javad) Stearns-Watson, Tirzhana Stearns and Jamaal (Deedra) Stearns; lifelong friend (sister), Mary Lou Eiland, and a host of nieces and nephews, family and friends.

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