Biddie Penland Cagle
Augusta,GA ­ Mrs. Biddie Penland Cagle, 75, our beloved mother and grandmother "Nanny B", went to be with her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, October 28, 2016 following an extended illness.
Funeral services will be held in the chapel of Chance & Hydrick Funeral Directors, Augusta, Georgia on Tuesday, November 1, 2016 at 3:00 p.m., with Rev. Billy Atkins officiating. Interment will follow in Hillcrest Memorial Park.
Pallbearers will be Ryan Shell, Kyle Shell, Pat Wesley, Jeff Crosby, Don Brosious and Larry Hutchins.
Honorary pallbearers are the members of the Catherine Newman Sunday School class.
Biddie was born February 1, 1941 in Ellijay, Georgia, the first child of Jack and Grace Penland. She was raised in Ellijay and was a 1959 Honor graduate of Gilmer County High School where she was Captain of the Cheerleading team, Editor of her Senior Yearbook and was voted "Most Talented".
She attended Mercer University before her 25 year marriage to Earl Cagle, Sr., in 1960. She and Earl made their home in the Atlanta area where they had three children before moving to the Augusta area in 1970.
Biddie was a homemaker and devoted her life to her children and grandchildren. She loved music and during her active years she was a highly accomplished pianist and soloist and played and sang in her home church choir in Ellijay as a youth and in her Atlanta area church. She was a member of Fleming Baptist Church in Augusta where she attended the Catherine Newman Class, sang in the choir and worked in the Homebound Ministry and children's nursery.
Due to illness, she was mostly homebound her final seven years where daughter Melanie and son Earl devoted their time and care for her. She enjoyed her Saturday afternoon rides in the country with Earl and her Sunday afternoon visits to the home of her daughter Melinda and son-in-law Stephen.
Biddie had an extraordinary capacity for compassion, love and sweet tenderness among all she knew, and could always take time to share a smile with friend or stranger alike. Through the many challenges she faced in later years, she still found the ability to smile and take joy in other's happiness and good fortune. She loved her children and grandchildren dearly, and through her many tribulations, that love never wavered.
She knew her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ from an early age, and was a prayer warrior for her family and others. Her thoughtful insight on life and her life to come in eternity is reflected in the closing verses of a poem she composed in her early married years; a poem about a dogwood tree she had planted in the front yard:
"And each day my tree and I see,
The panoramic view of life's journey.
But just like my dogwood tree,
Someday there will no longer be me.
In time it will grow old and no longer be,
And also no more blossoms to see.
But when I come to my final setting sun,
The difference is my real life will have just begun."
Biddie is survived by her children Melinda Shell (Stephen), Earl Cagle, Jr., Melanie Cagle, and two grandsons Ryan and Kyle Shell all of Augusta. She is also survived by her sister Polly Seversen (Dan) of New York and brother Jim Penland (Nita) of Tennessee and a number of nieces, nephews, and cousins.
The family is sincerely grateful for all the many prayers, offers of assistance, cards and support during her extended illness the past seven years.
Memorial contributions can be made to the Fleming Baptist Homebound Ministry.
The family will receive friends on Tuesday afternoon from 2:00 until 3:00 P.M., at the funeral home.
Chance & Hydrick Funeral Directors, 2502 Richmond Hill Road.