Obituary for Karol Green at Carroway Funeral Home Lufkin (2024)

Lifelong Angelina County resident, Karol Green, 82, passed away peacefully in his home Tuesday. He will be laid to rest Sunday, January 23, 2022 at 2:00 p.m. in a graveside ceremony at Gann Cemetery. A memorial service will be held on his birthdate, Saturday, February 12, at 2:00 p.m. at Denman Avenue Baptist Church.

He is survived by his wife of 61 years, Sandra Jarvis Green; daughters, Kara Bohall and husband Troy, and Leann Lucas, all of Lufkin; and son, Kalen Green and wife Jennifer of Spring. He is also survived by five grandchildren, Kalob and Brendon Bohall of Lufkin, McKaya Fernandez and husband Manuel of Leesville, Louisiana, and Sarah and Jackson Green of Spring; as well as two great-grandchildren, Emma and Jakob Bohall; his sister, Portia Pinner, and his brother, Bill Marlin, all of Lufkin.

Green was preceded in death by his parents, Glitmon Green and Pearl Marlin; sister, Gerri Lou Pinner; and mother-in-law, Novella Jarvis.

He was born February 12, 1939, in a log cabin in Redland to a family of modest means. While in school he helped his family financially by selling seeds and working at the Lufkin Ice Company on Raquet Street as well as helping out on the family farm. Those who knew him best describe him as a hardworking, self-made man who overcame many hardships to achieve success in life.

A 1957 graduate of Redland High School, Green was a notable athlete and voted Most Athletic Boy in high school where he competed in baseball, track, and basketball. Green was told he was too short to play basketball in college, but he proved the naysayers wrong by excelling in the sport and earning basketball scholarships to both Stephen F. Austin College (now University) and Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas, currently Texas A & M University. Green’s powerful thigh and calf muscles enabled him to jump so high that with his arm extended, his elbow was equal to the height of the basketball goal.

Unfortunately, he was unable to take advantage of the scholarship opportunities because his help was needed at home. A few years later his situation changed, now 21, he drove off to SFA in his turquoise 1955 Chevy

where he majored in business. Karol came from a musical family and was an active musician while at SFA. It was then that he met 18-year-old Sandra Jarvis when she sold him a mandolin. They were married within the year.

Except for five years when the family moved to Colorado, they made their home in Lufkin where he and Sandra were members of Denman Avenue Baptist Church for over 50 years.

He started his career employed at Sears, the Lufkin Paper Mill, and Lufkin Industries and often worked two jobs to become self-sufficient. While employed at Lufkin Industries, he attended business school at night and learned drafting. This skill earned him a position with the U.S. Forest Service, where he designed and invented various apparatus for them. Among his inventions are lock boxes designed to receive payment at unattended U.S. Parks and a machine that expedited the drying of blueprints.

Eventually, Karol started his own businesses. He began by building and operating convenience stores around town. Later he began to purchase real estate in the area and built a successful construction company. He was a skilled builder who took great pride in his work. Green always stood behind his construction, known for its quality. He knew a strong foundation and support structure would stand the test of time which explains his consistent use of extra steel in his foundations and excessive nails in his structures.

Never forgetting from where he came, he always gave of his time and resources to those less fortunate, frequently donating anonymously to individuals, churches, and charities.

Green remained a lifelong athlete. While working at the Paper Mill, Green often challenged his co-workers to race him. He always raced barefoot, and he always won. He took up golf in his 50s and was a natural, hitting a hole-in-one six times. He was a frugal man, and once, in an arduous attempt to retrieve a golf ball, he unintentionally grabbed a wasp nest. Even though he was stung multiple times, Green had a strong tenacious streak and finished the golf game. Green played in various men’s baseball, softball, basketball, and volleyball via city and church leagues. He became an avid bike rider, at times biking 20 or more miles a day, several times a week. According to his family, Green amused himself on these long bike rides by finding all kinds of coins and trinkets on the road. He would even take a magnet along to help him find his “highway treasures”.

Karol loved hunting, fishing, ice cream, playing 42 with his friends, and hosting fish fries with his family. Once when fishing in an overstocked lake, Green told the kids they could keep everything they caught, and the adults were stuck cleaning and cooking fish not much larger than minnows.

Green enjoyed wildlife and loved to tap pecans together to lure squirrels onto his porch to have them eat out of his hand. He continued his lifelong love of music by playing his mandolin with friends in nursing homes and other venues around the community. Many East Texans were the annual recipients of sweet potatoes that he would bring from Louisiana by the truckload.

Being someone who took pride in being self-sufficient, he built his own log home, and enjoyed growing his own food. When his neighborhood was sparsely populated, Green would ask permission to build or plant a garden on every vacant lot available to him. It was not uncommon for he and his wife to tend upwards of 6 or 7 gardens at a time. He additionally helped his adult children and others build their homes as well.

Throughout his life, Green built more than just buildings. Much like his quality construction, he became the foundation of a strong, successful, and supportive family structure. A decade ago, Green was in an accident while removing a tree which left him paralyzed from the waist down. He was able to rely on the strong family structure he had built, enabling him to continue living a full and active life–hunting, fishing, gardening, playing 42, and playing his mandolin–doing all the things he loved with the people he loved.

Pallbearers will be Kalob Bohall, Brendon Bohall, Bill Marlin, Kalen Green, Troy Bohall, Andy Jarvis and Manuel Fernandez.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to The Gideons International.

Memories and condolences may be added at www.carrowayfuneralhome.com.

Carroway Funeral Home, Lufkin, directors.