Orval Lee Carney, Jr., 67, passed from this life on March 23, 2022, at Autumn Leaves in Henderson, Texas. Orval had moved to Henderson in 2020 with his mother, Ruth (Carney) Cole, who also lived at Autumn Leaves, and had passed away twenty days earlier, on March 3, 2022.

An obituary is usually about remembering someone’s life - their family, their accomplishments, their hobbies - but if he could speak Orval would have everyone remember him for something else. On an evening in 1980 Orval had an experience that changed his life forever. He spent the next forty-two years telling anyone who would listen what happened to him that evening. But, to begin his story there would be starting in the middle, and that would mean leaving out all the things that made this man's life worth living.

Orval was born on Chanute Air Force Base where his father, Orval Sr., was stationed, in Rantoul, Illinois, on July 15, 1955. His parents, Orval, and Ruth Carney had five more children. Orval followed in his father’s footsteps, joining the United States Air Force in 1973. While serving in the military he married his high school sweetheart, Mari Joy Fritsch. Their union produced four children.

The Air Force enabled Orval to fulfill his childhood dream of becoming a Fireman. Orval’s greatest regret was that by leaving the Air Force he sacrificed his dream of a career with the Fire Department. Upon his Honorable Discharge from the Air Force, he joined the Security Industry where he worked for the next twenty years with a number of companies, including Cannon Security, Thomas Protective Services, and Wells Fargo.

Orval was preceded in death by his parents, Orval Carney Sr., and Ruth (Carney) Cole, his wife Mari Joy, and two brothers, Richard, and Michael. Orval is survived by two brothers, Mark Carney and wife Diana of Henderson, and Thomas Carney of Denver, Colorado: and a sister, Carol Pannell and husband Dale of Gordonville, Texas.

Four children also survive: Orval Carney III and wife Selene of Dallas; James Carney of Dallas; Charlene Mummey and husband Hawk, of Washington State; and Ruth Carney of Wichita, Kansas. In addition, Orval was blessed with six grandchildren: Aiden, Kira, Ellis, Addyson, Bella, and Maverick as well as three nieces, Dawn, Marilyn, and Melissa.

Orval retired in 2002 and became involved in full time church work. During this period Orval studied for and received his ordination. He was proud of being a licensed minister, and his one desire was to serve God. But there was one other thing that Orval loved: he loved reading about and thinking about space travel; of going to the stars, and the planets. He would spend hours looking at the night sky, studying the heavens through his telescopes.

Which brings us back to that evening in 1980, and a meeting with a friend and coworker whom Orval trusted. His name is not important, but his message was, because that night Orval heard these words:

“For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world, that He even gave His One and only begotten Son, so that whoever believes and trusts in Him as Savior shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Orval acted upon this message and placed his trust in Jesus. And as a Christian, Orval spent the rest of his life telling anyone who would listen that God is as real as life…and death. Through Jesus a relationship with God is available to each of us. All his life Orval dreamed of going to the stars; on that night, the One who created the stars came to him.

Now God has fulfilled the promise of eternal life that He made to Orval that night so long ago; after forty-two years of service to God, our brother closed his eyes, and slipped away. Orval has entered his new life.

Well done, good and faithful servant...

Funeral services for Orval will be at DFW National Cemetery in Dallas, Texas, on June 10, 2022, at 2:30 p.m. Interment will follow at the Cemetery.