Wyzetta LaVerne (Gaunt) Titus

Wyzetta LaVerne (Gaunt) Titus was greeted at the gates of Heaven by her precious Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on March 11, 2024, at the age of 90.  She was born to the late Vern Carl Gaunt and Martha Regina (James, Gaunt, Lawshe) Rains on November 16, 1933 in the state of Iowa.  Wyzetta grew up in Guthrie Center where she met the love of her life, Gerald Theodore Titus, in high school.  She and “Jerry” shared 54 beautiful years together before his promotion to Heaven in 2008.

Wyzetta accepted Christ as her personal Savior on 3/2/1948 at the age of fourteen, as the fruit of a bus ministry at First Baptist Church Guthrie Center, run by the Reverend Kenneth Blood. Shortly after, she dedicated her life to full time mission work.  She and Jerry served as missionaries together under Baptist Mid-Missions on the North American field doing church planting and development work, until their retirement. As a widow of sixteen years, she carried on a thriving ministry visiting shut ins in the Central Virginia area. She was a member at Heritage Baptist Church Lynchburg, VA, at the time of her death.

She was a woman who loved her Savior and her family fiercely, the color purple and hummingbirds! She leaves behind a legacy of 4 children, Vickie Phillips (David), Rex Titus (Vickie), Cletis Titus (Tamara) and Renee Gallian (Doug). Fifteen grandchildren, thirteen grand-inlaws and forty- one great -grandchildren who knew her as “Gigi”.

She also loved learning and, in her fifties, after raising her family she went back to school and earned her LPN at Three Rivers Community College in Poplar Bluff, MO.  Her BS in Nursing at Arkansas State University and her BS in Business from Goshen College in Elkhart, IN.

Her gentle nurturing, slightly impish behavior and Godly wisdom will be missed by everyone who knew her!   In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband Gerald Theodore Titus, a daughter-in-law Vickie Vanessa (Vantrease) Titus, brothers Jack Gaunt,  Robert Gaunt and Rex Gaunt, sisters Betty (Gaunt) Goad and Ruth Ann (Lawshe).  She is survived by one brother Howard (Camilla) Lawshe and many nieces and nephews and a host of loving friends!

Visitation will be Thursday March 14, 2024, from 5-7 p.m. at Tharp Funeral Home & Crematory in Lynchburg.

A celebration of Wyzetta’s life will be held on Friday March 15, 2024, 12:00 p.m. at Tharp Funeral Home Chapel-Lynchburg with internment immediately following at Old Dominion Gardens in Roanoke, VA. All are welcome!