Carolyn Law

Carolyn “Sue” Needham Law, born to Inez and L.B. “Bill” Needham in Nances Creek, Alabama on March 31, 1937, left her Christmas decorating and sweet-making half-done for the first time ever on December 13, 2021, to join her beloved parents and sister Margaret “Tiny Ann,” who all preceded her in death and about whom she spoke often. She is survived in her family of origin by a sister, Mary Imogene Wolfe.
She attended Piedmont City Schools and later dabbled in bookkeeping while also serving our country as a relocating military spouse with children for twenty-six years without complaint — which is how she did all things.  She was a dutiful wife for sixty-seven years to H.S. Law (beginning May 21, 1954), providing the warm cornbread to his milk and a source of deep pride to him as a quiet servant leader in their church and community all the way to Anchorage, Alaska and back. But she truly excelled and absolutely delighted in her roles springing from that marriage: as mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, respectively, to Donald Eugene Law (Diana), Terry Len Law (Janice), and Susan Denise Fann; Heather Rene’ Fann, David Brandon Moss, Teresa Dawn Fann Hurst, Jennifer Lynn Moss, Donald James Law, Carolyn Fann Durham, and Shayla Angel Law Rainwater; and her most discussed and adored: Tona Raa Davis, Jr., Kaylee Michelle Davis, Kaitlyn Sue Law, Brayden Steven Burney, Tristan James Law, Jacob Walker Durham, Owen James Law, William Lowell Durham, Everett Tate Fann Cooke, Lorianne Inez Durham, Parker Cole Manley, and Preston Cash Manley. She additionally leaves behind many much-loved nieces, great-nieces and nephews, cousins, and friends.
When her great-grandchildren asked her for ice cream, there was never a question of whether — only of how many scoops, and if you think the number thirteen made her flinch for even a second, you never met her. She could rock a grandbaby to sleep faster than you could count the “darlin’” ceramic animals in her kitchen, and it is difficult to understand why anyone else ever bothered to bring deviled eggs or strawberry cake to the reunion. Her intricate quilts cover many a family member with the story of her deliberate, beautiful labors of love and will remain precious family heirlooms.

Bereft of vanity, when they took cancer from her forehead, she simply invited us to admire the crevasse they left and get over ourselves. She attempted to walk when most would have insisted on being carried. She was nowhere near as healthy as she deserved to be and now, after a too-long stretch of discomfort, she is free.

She taught those around her to love Jesus but more importantly, by example, to love like He did — unconditionally and actively, and that God will instruct your heart directly if you’ll listen; you need not blindly follow the direction of any man. She was famous for “cuttin’ up” at the funeral home because she understood better than most that death is a part of life, and that life goes on in its wake as it should. She was joy, and she found and spread it wherever she went with that unmistakable and nearly ever-present laughter.

A celebration of her life and gifts will be held on Thursday December 16th, 2021 at 3:00 p.m. following visitation at 1:00 p.m., at Dansby Heritage Chapel in Piedmont, Alabama, with burial thereafter at Nances Creek Methodist Church Cemetery. She loved flowers and regularly donated to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, such that either tribute is appropriate.