Cynthia Ann "Penny" O'Dougherty

1926 - 2021

Oct. 9, 1926 - Feb. 11, 2021
Better know as "Penny," nicknamed after her beloved paternal grandmother, she lived on the rural outskirts of Woodville, Texas with her parents Ardith Albert and Gladys Beatrice Watson, along with four sisters. Penny had a lifelong love for her Lord Jesus that she absorbed from her grandmother and regularly walked three miles into Woodville to attend Sunday School and church. Penny moved to China, Texas with her father and three sisters in 1940, for his proposed new job and to start high school. The job fizzled and Penny was left with a family whom she babysat. She also operated a small eatery attached to the family service station and did this until high school graduation because her father never returned.
After graduating in 1944, Penny immediately boarded a bus for Oakland, Calif. to assist her older sister with childcare, as the sister was a shipyard welder then, during World War II. Her sister and baby son left when her husband was killed in the Normandy Beach invasion and then Penny started working for a glass manufacturing company, as a stenographer for 20 years. While there, she met and married Victor Paul Lemieux, raising two daughters Theatis Pauline Rudolph (now deceased) and Faye Elaine Holder, now of Branson, Mo. Also there are several grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Stepdaughters Kathleen van Goor, Deborah Jump, Saundra Renner, Cynthia (Dean) Sylvies and Carolyn O'Dougherty.
In 1965, Penny and Vic moved to Lancaster, Calif. and became quite active in the Central Christian Church, with Penny becoming the church secretary, Then in the early 1970s, they moved to Rosamond, Calif. where Penny worked 20 years for the Southern Kern Unified School District, retiring as head of accounting and business services. During these years, Penny and Vic were very active in the Wayside Chapel and had also become avid square dancers, RVing to many regional events. Penny also loved oil painting, flower gardening, swimming, knitting, but most of all, she loved to cook for others, exercising her spiritual gift of hospitality.
On Jan. 13, 1992 Vic passed away while at their vacation RV park in Desert Hot Springs, Calif. Penny resumed much volunteering there, at Grace Church and several senior centers in the Palm Springs area. In the late summer of 1995, a long-time Lancaster Central Christian Church friend of Penny's encouraged a telephone meeting with Kenneth O'Dougherty, also a longtime member of the same church. That led to a Dec. 16, 1995 Desert Hot Springs wedding that resulted in 25 years of extremely happy marriage, living in Lancaster, Calif., being active in the senior "Saints Alive" group at Central Christian Church and RVing the beautiful USA.
Penny's unconditional life-long love for and service to her Lord, Jesus, had convinced her to have no service because such usually magnifies the accomplishments of the deceased and scripture states GOD abhors pridefulness as all are sinners by nature and receive salvation only through grace.
The Neptune Society of Sherman Oaks handled arrangements and at her request, she fed the desert wild flowers making them more beautiful. Anyone desiring to make a donation in her memory,
is encouraged to contact Alzheimer's Association, Southland Chapter, 9606 S. Santa Monica Blvd., Suite 200, Beverly Hills, CA 90210.