YVONNE LONGMIRE

Yvonne Thompson Longmire was born October 26, 1928, to Lee Thompson and Ardean Matthews Thompson in Pemiscot County, Missouri, in the City of Holland. She was the only child to bless this union. A God honoring family, young Yvonne was raised in the fear and admonition of the Lord. As a result of her parent’s training and her love for God, she accepted Christ as her Lord and Savior at the age of eleven. After confessing Christ, she was baptized and became a member of the Oak Grove Baptist Church in Holland, Missouri, under the pastorship of Reverend F. H. Anderson. Yvonne grew up in the State of Missouri, however she did spend many of her adult years in the State of Illinois; East St. Louis and Chicago to be exact. After having been a divorcee’ for many years, Yvonne united in holy matrimony with Calvin Ted Longmire. In 1958, the family moved to San Diego, CA. As an adult, Yvonne did not depart from the way of the Lord. Her love and commitment to God grew stronger daily and that love, and commitment further extended to her husband and children. In January of 1969, Yvonne joined in fellowship with St. Stephen’s Cathedral Church of God in Christ under the leadership of Pastor George D. McKinney. Yvonne was a faithful member of the church, attending regularly along with her children. While at St. Stephen’s, she served for a time as the church secretary and assisted with teaching the Adult Sunday School class. Professionally, she was a 1st Grade teacher at St. Stephen’s Christian school for many years. Following her time as a teacher, Yvonne transitioned in employment to Social Worker with the AKA Head Start Program under the direction of Dr. Geneva Roberts. In this role, she demonstrated the loved of God as she assisted many children and parents with securing resources and assistance to make for strong and successful families. After several years in this position Yvonne retired, but she continued to work as a substitute Social Worker until she needed to devote her time to caring for her daughter, Miriam. Yvonne would often share of a dream she had regularly of her driving north in her 1968 Chevy Impala. In the dream, she never saw where she was going, just north. One Sunday, just as she and her good friend, Betty, had done a couple of times before, they went to visit Imani Temple of Temecula Church of God in Christ and support the newly appointed Pastor they knew from St. Stephen’s. On that day, she felt led by the Lord to join the fellowship which she did in January of 1993, under the leadership of Pastor James E. Mason. After joining she went right to work. Having demonstrated for many years her sincere love for the Lord, love and compassion for people and commitment to righteous living, Yvonne was appointed by Pastor Mason as the first Church Mother of Imani Temple of Temecula COGIC, and she became most affectionately known as Mother Longmire. Mother Longmire genuinely loved her Imani church family, and the role of church mother was one she took seriously and conducted with true dedication by nurturing and training everyone she encountered in the church family as if they were the only one. Additionally, Mother Longmire served for several years as President of the Pastor’s Aid Board, member of the Church Board of Directors and inaugural President of the Mother’s Board. Under her leadership of the Mother’s Board, the auxiliary raised money to make a significant contribution to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and oversaw the Stephen Ministries outreach care group. One of Mother Longmire’s greatest passions was teaching. She loved the word of God, studied the word of God, and taught the word of God as an Adult Sunday School teacher for over 25 years at Imani. Mother Longmire was truly a prayer warrior. She faithfully attended the San Diego Prayer Cell in the home of Pastor and Sister Mason. She would not hesitate to pray with anyone and often she would end her conversations with prayer. In her life reflections, Mother Longmire personally wrote: “I hope to be in this church home until my heavenly father calls me to be with him. I love my church family and friends, to each of you: you are truly a wonderful blessing in my life. To me you are more special than you could ever imagine. For one more time, or maybe I should say for one last time, “thank you”, you are “precious” to my heart.” Yvonne was the mother of seven biological children: Rose, Douglas, Ayesha (aka Chryl), Iris, Christopher, Craig, and Miriam. Her family holds many dear memories of their “Mom”, “MaDear”, and “Granny”, a few of which include that she was a great driver, a classy dresser, she enjoyed gardening, she loved southern food (one favorite was buttermilk and cornbread). She was not only full of biblical wisdom but practical sense too jokingly cautioning them “don’t take any wooden nickels.” Yvonne was a great cook and a few of her tastiest delights were her cakes, banana pudding, peach cobbler….and her famously delicious lemon Jell-O cake. Of all the holidays, Christmas was her absolute favorite. In her life reflections, she personally wrote: “Thank you dearly beloved and precious family for all the many wonderful times we’ve spent together. Sometimes just celebrating for the sake of love and family get together. And always to celebrate the goodness of God and the birth of Jesus at Christmas!! Those were pleasurable and blessed times. Those were especially good times for the “heart and soul” You can’t begin to know just how much I love each of you. Nor do you realize how very important it is to me, that we meet again. Ref: 1stThessalonians 4:16-18.” On Sunday, May 29, 2022, God almighty in his infinite wisdom called and claimed Yvonne Thompson Longmire to be with him in eternity for death is swallowed up in victory through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. In addition to her husband, her children, Christopher, Iris, Miriam, and Douglas preceded her in death. Remaining to cherish her memory and honor her legacy are her daughters, Rose and Ayesha (aka Chryl); son Craig, and his wife, Robin; eight grandchildren: Reginald, Angelette, Hakim, Hikmah, Desymber, Gregory II, Nicholas and Jordan; several great grandchildren; best friend, Betty Smith; the Imani Temple of Temecula COGIC family; and a host of relatives, loved ones and friends. Although Yvonne absolutely loved her family, church family and friends, she would want all to know, “…there is a special place in life, a goal I must attain, a dream that I must follow, for I won’t be back again. There is a mark that I must leave, however small it be, a legacy of love for those who follow after me.” 

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