Corine Toney

Reflections from the children of Corine and Kyer Toney Debbie Toney Egle, Donna Lee Toney, Darrell Kyer Toney, and Liz Toney

Corine Toney was born October 30, 1934. She married her beloved husband Kyer Toney, and in 2023 they celebrated 70 years of marriage. Mother died at home in Cumming, Georgia the evening of May 16, 2024 as Dad sat at her bedside; and us children near in support and prayer. Our dear mother had a long battle with Congestive Heart Failure and the advanced stages of Parkinson’s disease. But Mother’s life goes on because of Christ. We know this because of the words Jesus spoke to Martha at the funeral of her brother Lazarus: Martha said to Him, Lord why didn’t you come earlier so my brother wouldn’t have died? Jesus’ answer brings, comfort, challenge, and promise: “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in Me will never die” (John 11). Jesus knew that Martha loved Him and followed Him, but still, He asked Martha, “Do you believe this?” The Lord gave her the gift of testifying and proclaiming Him when she said, “Yes Lord, I believe you are the Son of God.”

There are many who will affirm Martha’s answer. But there may be others that don’t know where they stand with Jesus, the One who came to this earth, sacrificed His very life’s blood on the cross, endured our pain and suffering, so that we could come to the Cross of Christ and repent of sins, turn from our sins, and receive the salvation of Christ the Redeemer, who gives us new life and places His very Spirit within our hearts. For everyone who lives in obedience to Christ as His redeemed children, we know that while we are privileged to live testimonies of His grace on earth, our hope in seeing Christ Jesus face-to-face becomes reality when we pass through death’s doorway into the glories of His everlasting love. This was indeed the last mile along life’s journey, and Mother is now in the eternal presence of the Lord.

For each one who has honored our Mother, we thank you. Some know her well. Our parents have been blessed with long and full lives, and together they have witnessed the passing of their 19 siblings as well as 16 brothers and sisters-in-law, and we, with our many cousins, carry on. Mother and Dad have also outlived most of their church family, friends and colleagues with whom they journeyed through life together.

Mother had a rich heritage with roots in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, and is the last of seven children born to parents James Alexander Orr and Cora Elizabeth Edmonson Orr. After a move to Michigan, our grandfather was hired by industrialist Henry Ford. Navigating the challenges of city life for a farm boy wasn’t easy. But the Orr family experienced the great tent meetings and church revivals that swept through the Midwest where the Scriptures were preached and Gospel music touched hearts. Music was the centerpiece of their home. Mother loved “home” and considered the position of “homemaker” a high compliment, for she truly excelled in this responsibility and set a very high bar.

In the 1930s and 1940s, those living in earshot of the Orr home often reclined on their porches in the evening to listen to the music pouring through the open windows of what became known as the Orr Hotel—the place where local pastors would often call to ask if visiting evangelists and musicians could stay while in the city. They too enjoyed hearing the family’s music that came from the abundance of instruments and voices raised in harmony. It was a way to unplug from the Great Depression followed by war time and blackouts in one of the largest cities in the nation. Though times were hard, Mother’s parents never failed to open their door to others, exhibiting Christian hospitality.

One of Mother’s fondest childhood memories was when she would crawl beneath the baby grand piano and watch her mother rock and sew until Charles Fuller’s Old Fashioned Revival Hour was broadcast via radio on Sunday evenings. Then with a well-marked Bible on lap, her mother was nurtured in the Scripture, developing a love for God’s Word that taught the grace of salvation that snatched human hearts from despairing sin to forgiveness of sin. It was during this time that Mother gave her life to Jesus Christ.

She attended the Gilead Baptist Church Downtown Detroit (a beautiful waterfront city at the time) and appeared with Dr. Robert Parr, the powerful preacher, Bible teacher, and senior pastor, on his weekly television broadcast from Detroit. Dr. Parr had appointed Mother as part of the Gilead Trio in the early 1950s, developing a friendship with trio member, the late Barbara Parr Spurr. After church one Sunday the Parrs invited Mother to join them for a meal with the visiting evangelist and educator Dr. Bob Jones, Sr. While riding in the car, Dr. Bob turned to Mother directly and  offered her a full scholarship to Bob Jones College. But deciding to finish school in her hometown, she then began working at Ford Motor Company, and not long after, met our Dad who left West Virginia to serve in the United States Navy during the Korean War. They were married in 1953. While Mother never sought position and title, she felt blessed to be Kyer Toney’s wife and for seven decades Dad simply called her “Babe.”

Mother’s home was her castle. To her family—regardless of age—home has always been the place we’ve returned to, not just for holidays, but regularly. We knew fellowship of family.

It is impossible to talk about Mother without talking about Dad, because they defined the biblical definition of “the two became one.” Dad has always had a strong work ethic, providing wonderfully for his family, and Mother kept the home fires burning. They did not contradict one another but complimented one another, and they were unified in their approach to raising children. We were blessed to be “taken” to church and grew up with the example of Dad and his brothers serving on the church staff with Dr. Parr and traveling as the Toney Brothers Quartet. This enriched our home. Mother exemplified what it meant to stand in support of Dad as Gospel music added another layer of experience and insight that became to us a treasure trove, and an important communication tool for presenting the Gospel of the Lord Jesus. Our parents put into action the biblical prescription for home and family life, found in

Deuteronomy 6:
Now this is the commandment, and these are the statutes and judgments which the Lord your God has commanded…teach them to your [children] and [grandchildren], all the days of your life. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. Bind them as a sign on your hand, [put them in front of your eyes]; write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Mother was committed to marriage, family, and home—the first institution ordained by God, and how greatly we benefited. Her sacrifices in creating a home for our father and us are many, but she didn’t see them as sacrifices, but enjoyed every aspect of home life and often said that Dad treated her like a queen. Home was crowned with stability and comforts Mother never thought possible. Dad, a man of few words—but always worthy of hearing—has said, “She’s the best mom ever!” Thank you Dad for giving us a priceless gift—the example of a Christian husband and father. You and Mother led our home with strength, wisdom, integrity, consistency, and immeasurable love. We are forever grateful hearing her say that life for her began when she married Kyer Toney.

Growing up in our parents’ busy home brought a sense of security and every day lessons of life; gleaning from the Word of God as our guide and tutor. When confronted by peer pressure our parents helped us think through what the proper response should be. Before the question was coined a slogan, we were trained to ask “What would Jesus [have us] do?”

Growing up, time around the table was a focal point of home, filled with Mother’s good cooking, family conversation, stories, lessons, and music. Dad frequently and quietly would pick up the guitar and start singing, and we would join in. The words of the songs lifted our spirits and pointed us to the Lord. It was a happy sound that made an indelible impact, filling our hearts with rich spiritual doctrine, joy, and resource.

Dad has always been quiet and wise. Mother had an intuitive nature and in the tradition of her family was a dramatic story teller. While entertaining, often the “moral of the story” was the objective. These are the things that kept our minds focused and served as a reality check to examine motives of the heart. As the Bible says, “All the ways of mankind are right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the motives” (Proverbs 16:2).

Thinking deeply was one of Mother’s attributes. The Bible calls it discernment and declares: “The wisdom of good sense is to discern the way” (Proverbs 14:8). “Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:2). This brought a tremendous peace to our hearts as we learned to traverse life. While it is always a mother’s prerogative to say to her children, “Don’t do this or that because I said so,” Mother often resorted to a different approach as she explained the reasons behind a decision and the importance of understanding the “whys” behind them. Our parents challenged us to apply Bible truths and make them ours, giving us the insight to stand on them even if it meant standing alone.Learning the importance of living what you believe—exemplifying the testimony of Jesus Christ—was central. Mother and Dad taught us not to be followers of others but rather followers of Christ, clarifying that we should be quick to lift up God’s truth. We saw this lived out at home and in public. At work and at church. When put to the test, their admonitions would come to mind. One of the great lessons was never let peer pressure have its way. We learned that God’s truth never disappoints, but directs us along life’s pathway which brings peace to the mind and heart.

Mother noted in her Bible the following: No man shall be glorified, only Christ is to be lifted up (1 Corinthians 1:28-29).

So it is not surprising that Mother loved singing the song with the Trio: Wonderful Peace written in 1889 by Warren Cornell. While sitting in a tent revival, a deep introspection struck Cornell and he scribbled some thoughts on paper that later fell to the ground. When William Cooper entered the tent he discovered the paper with lyrics that fit his own thinking and completed the poem and put it to music:

Peace, peace, wonderful peace, coming down from the Father above Sweep over my spirit forever, I pray, in fathomless billows of love. What a treasure I have in this wonderful peace, buried deep in the heart of my soul So secure that no power can mine it away, while the years of eternity roll! Oh soul are you here without comfort and rest, m arching down the rough pathway of time?

Make Jesus your friend before shadows grow dark, O accept His sweet peace so sublime

This is the comfort we have today knowing that in a lifetime of faithfulness to the Lord, to our father, and our family, the words Mother recalls singing many times are filled with hope:

And to think when I rise to that city of peace
Where the anchor of peace I shall see
That one strain of the song which the ransomed will sing In that heavenly kingdom will be

This testimony bids the question to all who do not know Jesus Christ as Savior—Don’t you long for such wonderful peace of sins forgiven in Christ alone? This is the most important decision anyone can ever ponder and answer. When it comes to the doorway that closes on our earthly life, we think of the wonderful exchange between hymn writer John Newton and his friends, who at his side while dying, asked: “Mr. Newton are you still with us?” Mr. Newton answered with certainty: “I am still in the land of the dying, but soon…I shall be in the land of the living.” Dad recorded a wonderful song back in the 1960s:

Soon I’ll leave this world of sorrow, for that Homeland of the Soul It will be a bright tomorrow, when the pearly gates unfold Savior be thou ever near me, till I reach my home on high Where I’ll rest from all my labor, far above the Starry Sky Someone has said, “Home isn’t easy to define, but you know when you’re there.” The dictionary defines home as the place where one lives permanently, especially as a member of a family. For the believer in Christ, Heaven is the only “place” that fits such a description of true peace.

As much as Mother loved Dad and her family, home, and friends, her resting place is secure with the hope of Heaven, for the Lord said, “I go to prepare a place for you that where I am you shall be also.” As her physical stamina weakened and eyes dimmed, her body gave out after 89 years of living; her eyes are now forever fixed upon her Savior, and we thank Him for the life He gave her and the life she in turn gave to us. She will live on through us until we are called Home. But until then,our hearts will go on singing, until then with joy we’ll carry on, until the day our eyes behold that city, until the day God calls us home.

She’ s resting today in this wonderful peace Resting sweetly in Jesus’ control For she’ s kept from all danger by night and by day And His glory is flooding her soul.

Corine is survived by her husband Kyer Toney, daughter Deborah Lynn Toney Egle (late husband DeWayne Egle) of Holly, MI; daughter Donna Lee Toney of Boone, NC; son Darrell Kyer Toney of Sugar Hill, GA, and daughter Doreen Elizabeth “Liz” Toney of Sugar Hill, GA; grandson Donald Kyer (Brianne) Egle, great-grandson Harrison Kyer Egle of Longview, TX; granddaughter Laura Renee Egle (Robert) McGraw of Flowery Branch, Ga; brother-in-law James (Dorothy) Toney. Deceased Orr Siblings: Earl (Opal) Orr, Juanita Orr, Kathleen (Bill) Riley, Rita (Ray) Daugherty, Irma (Warren) Tosh, Betty (Alden) Toney.Deceased Toney Siblings: Clyde (Mary) Toney, Bert (Anita) Toney, Erma Toney, Eliza (Lucian) Asbury, Olive (Noah) Booth, Alden (Betty) Toney, Don (Evelyn) Toney, Carl Toney, Ilene (George) Brumfield, Mae (Victor) Crockett, Robert (Connie) Toney, Lynn (Anna Faye) Toney, and Gary (Judy) Toney.

We join with our many cousins in thanking God for the rich heritage He has given us.

Funeral service will be held on Tuesday, May 21, 2024 at Sugar Hill Church, 5091 Nelson Brogdon Blvd., Sugar Hill, GA 30518. Visitation: 10:30 am – 12:00 pm Service: 12:00 – 1:00 pm  Interment follows at Sawnee View Memorial Gardens, 1390 Dahlonega Hwy, Cumming, GA 30040