Jeannie C. Tuttle

Indian Harbour Beach, Florida

Jeannie C. Tuttle, 55, went home to be with the Lord on Monday July 2, 2012 at William Childs Hospice House.

Jeannie Dawn Cogdill Tuttle was born on March 6, 1957 in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Jeannie was a member of First Baptist Church of Indialantic.

She was preceded in death by her mom, Jean Cogdill.

Jeannie is survived by her husband Gary E. Tuttle, Indian Harbour Beach, Florida; daughters Jessica Tuttle, Vero Beach, Florida and Amanda Tuttle, Indian Harbour Beach, Florida; father William Berton Cogdill, Orlando, Florida; grandchildren Hannah, Jacob Jr., and Eden, Vero Beach, Florida, Tim, Grace, and Olivia, Indian Harbour Beach, Florida; brother Mark Cogdill, Orlando, Florida.

Calling hours are 10:30AM-11:00AM Saturday July 7, 2012 at First Baptist Church Indialantic. Services are at 11:00AM Saturday July 7, 2012 at First Baptist Church Indialantic. Burial will be at Florida Memorial Gardens, Rockledge, Florida.

In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to:

Pregnancy Resources, Inc.

165 Babcock Street

Melbourne, Florida 32935

Jeannie Tuttle

March 6 1957 – July 2, 2012

I first met Jeannie when she was in High School; we’ve known each other for 38 years. As a matter of fact, today would have been our 33rd wedding anniversary. She had already led a tough life, married at 16, divorced with a child at 18. She was the most beautiful woman I had ever met, not just physically, but she had a sweet spirit like no one I had ever dated. And I loved her little girl, my oldest daughter, Jessica, whom I adopted after Jeannie and I were married on July 7, 1979.

I came to understand that God put Jeannie in my life, I believe because He knew that was what it was going to take to get my attention. You see I had come back from two consecutive tours in Viet Nam from 1969 to 1971 as a medivac pilot. When I went over there, America still supported the troops in the War. When I returned, the support had turned into opposition. I worked full time at Disney World while attending UCF full time (back then it was called Florida Technological University). I was living a lifestyle as far away from God as you could possibly believe. Jeannie had been saved since she was 14, but at the time, you couldn’t tell the difference between her and me by the way we lived.

After we were married, things seemed to be going great for us by the world’s standards. We had a profitable day care business, a company car, and a house on a lake in Orlando. Everything seemed to be perfect. Then the largest creditor to our business defaulted on the note owed to us and I thought we were going to lose everything, including our house. To top it off, Jeannie became pregnant with our youngest daughter, Amanda. The world view to solving this problem was abortion. But Jeannie had taught me about the sanctity of life and financial hardship was not going to compromise our values with the world view. It was a few years later that Jeannie said she was going to take the kids to church. We went to First Baptist Church Orlando where Jessica and I were saved and Jeannie rededicated her life. But nowhere in God’s word does it say that, when you follow Jesus your problems go away. The prosperity gospel is a myth.

You see, Jeannie suffered from depression--she had it all her life. When she was young, she turned to drinking to escape its torment. It worked temporarily, but alcohol is a depressant and after the temporary escape came the inevitable crash. In early 1989, she was diagnosed with depression and an addiction to alcohol. The doctor told her he couldn’t treat her depression until she was free of the alcohol addiction. It was during this time, her faith in Jesus Christ freed her from addiction and a medication was found to relieve her depression. Not only was she able to overcome drinking but she also was able to quit smoking. I was amazed at the transformation that took place. She became everything I had ever wanted in a woman. She was warm, loving, merciful, and caring, full of compassion for even the outcasts of society. After we moved to Melbourne, she worked with Pregnancy Resources, counseling young women to have their babies and keep them or put them up for adoption rather than kill them. Young mothers thanked her for years afterward, for saving their beautiful children. We took in homeless families to live with us. I stood in awe of her. If that was what it meant to be a follower of Christ, I wanted to do the same. And I began studying and living the life that Christ promises us that we all can have. And I felt a peace and joy I had never felt before in my life.

But as previously mentioned, nowhere does God promise us that we will not have problems. In 1996, I began to notice a change in her. Her medication was not working as well as it previously did. The doctors began changing medications, some with serious side effects. The doctors couldn’t find a suitable substitute. Slowly, she began to drift away from her relationship with God. During difficult times, you can either turn to God or turn away from him. The change was so slowly, that it was barely noticeable at first. Then one day she started smoking again and I knew there was a problem. And then after years of being sober, she took a drink. Jeannie was a classic alcoholic. One drink and she was gone. She knew she couldn’t keep it hidden and on Monday, November 18, 1996, I noticed she seemed troubled as I was getting ready to leave for work. I asked her if she was ok. She said “yes”, but I could see she was troubled. I kissed her and said “I love you”. She replied “I love you, too”. And when I came home, she had left. Amanda was only 13 and she was as devastated as I was.

She finally quit drinking a few years ago and two months after she did she came home and said that she wanted to come home for good. It looked like the reconciliation we prayed for would finally happen. But her mom became gravely ill and Jeannie stayed close to her to take care of her. I warned her that her health was fragile and being a caregiver would probably be too much for her, but she was determined to care for her mother. It was too hard for her and a few months ago she began drinking again. She called her dad a few weeks ago and told him to call me and bring her home. It wasn’t to be. He found her unconscious and called an ambulance to take her to the hospital. At first she started to recover, but on July 2, 2012, she went home to be with the Lord and the ultimate healing. Now she is free from depression and addiction for the first time in her life. And I rejoice for her, but I will truly miss her, because I lost my wife, best friend, soul mate, and lover. The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Our family will be reconciled one day because we’ve been reconciled to God. How can you be reconciled to God? You have to realize that we are all sinners and our sin separates us from God. God’s word, the bible says we can’t do anything to save our selves, and if we die without our sins forgiven by God, we will be separated from God forever. It’s what the bible calls “Hell”. But God loved us so much that he gave His one and only Son, Jesus, to take upon himself all the sin of the world, past, present and future, and to die on the cross as a perfect sacrifice to take away our sins. But He was resurrected on the third day, and ascended into heaven where He has prepared a place for us. And the bible further says that if you believe this, if you trust in what He did on the cross and not on any good deeds you have done, you too will have eternal life with him in heaven.

Loving husband,

Gary Tuttle