Flora M. Carmichael

Flora Mae Carmichael, 83, of Huntington Beach, California, passed away peacefully on Wednesday, April 17th, 2019 at her home.

Flora is pre-deceased by her husband of 67 years, Andrew Carmichael and survived by son Marvin Carmichael, daughter in law Sheryl and two granddaughters, Essence Carmichael and Jerica Widdison. Flora is also survived by two older sisters, Elizabeth Kelly and Louise Grant, both of McDonough, GA.

Flora was born on August 22nd, 1935 in McDonough, GA to parents Holcomb and Iona Hughey where she resided until moving to Philadelphia, PA in 1955.An avid supporter of the Walk Against Hunger program in which Flora  participated for many years and once raised so much money she received the top fundraising award.“Sister Carmichael” as she was known, was also very dedicated to her church where she and her husband spent numerous hours helping the communities’ less fortunate.

She was a charter member of the Germantown Seventh-day Adventist church in Germantown, PA where she sang in the choir in the early years, served as head of the usher board, and later, was Director of Community Services for many years, where she was in-charge of food, clothing and household goods donations, as well as weekly feeding the communities’ less fortunate. “Sister Carmichael”, as she was known, was very dedicated to her church where she spent numerous hours, because not only did she try to provide for anyone in need, she and her husband were also responsible for keeping the church clean, which absorbed many of their evening hours.

Flora loved cooking and feeding people. And by all accounts, she had a huge following of people that just couldn’t get enough of her delicious faire. Anyone familiar with Flora’s cooking knew that one of her all-time favorite things to make was lamb chops. But it really didn’t matter what she made, from greens, to lima beans, or her fried chicken or creamed corn (which was her husbands favorite), you couldn’t go wrong. And everything was made fresh, because she and her husband were original Georgia farmers, so even in Philadelphia, she always found enough space to grow her own vegetables, so everything had that true “down-home” touch.

Flora’s passion for helping people went well beyond her official role of Community Services Director at her church. Because of her connections with so many organizations around the Greater Philadelphia area that made regular donations of food, clothes and other household items to her cause, she literally filled her basement (and much of her house) with these donations, which kept her and her husband very busy distributing “care packages” to needy families wherever they found them, which often resulted in them shipping boxes of these care items out of State. Flora just needed to hear that someone somewhere was in need, and she was on it, anxious to share what she felt was so much abundance that God had blessed her with. She read her bible and praised God daily for all of His blessings and the ability to share with others. 

Flora requested not to have any services, but rather preferred to be cremated, where her ashes have now been joined with her husband Andrew so they can be spread together by her son, daughter in law and granddaughters off the coast of Southern California.

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