Carmen Rene (Hyden) McDonald

Carmen Rene McDonald (Hyden) of Burleson, Texas went to be with the Lord on September 16, 2021, after a long and relentless battle with cancer.

Services will be held at 1 p.m. Wednesday, September 22, 2021, in the Mountain Valley Funeral Home Chapel. Burial follows at Burleson Memorial Park. Visitation is from 6-8 p.m. Tuesday, September 21, 2021.

Carmen was born December 18, 1977, in Fort Polk, Louisiana. She graduated from Martin High School in 1995.

Carmen’s childhood was spent moving around as part of military family until finally settling in Arlington, Texas, with her mother, father, and three siblings.

Carmen spent her career as a mortgage underwriter making countless friends in the mortgage industry along the way. She was a true professional who loved her job so passionately that she worked right up until her second surgery which stripped her of her ability to perform her duties.

Without question, Carmen enjoyed spending time with her children more than anything else whether it be cheering on the side of a soccer field or attempting to talk a softball umpire into admitting he made the wrong call. Sitting by a campfire or cruising across the lake chuckling as the kids struggle to cling to a tube as they fly across the boat’s wake it didn’t matter to Carmen what we were doing. It was only important that we were together, well fed, and a family. Carmen loved music, bingo, slot machines, red wine, using spirited words to describe her ITS coaches, and most of all Carmen loved people. It didn’t matter if you were a millionaire or couldn’t rub two nickels together. She was a master at finding the common thread from which to start a conversation and ultimately make a new friend. The only strangers to Carmen were people she hadn’t yet shared a conversation with. Carmen’s favorite chats were with the person who knew her most and likely the only person capable of fabricating a similar volume of gossip, our beloved neighbor and adopted family member, Judy. It didn’t matter if it was a few beers at the end of the day or five cups of morning coffee Judy and Carmen shared a special kinship which helped Carmen maintain her fighting spirit in the months leading up to her passing. Carmen led a life blessed never running out of challenges to overcome or new friends to make. She was an example to all on how to love the Lord, your family, friends, and most of all, life.

Carmen is survived by her husband of 20 years, Tom McDonald of Burleson, children Eva Scott, Ethan Scott, Sydney McDonald, and Rylee McDonald, mother Sandra Hyden and father Ronald Hyden, brother Brett Hyden, and sister Mary Hyden. She was preceded in death by her sister Sonya Hyden.

Carmen was one of a kind of which there will be no other. She will be sorely missed by those who she touched and those who helped make Carmen’s life on earth something special.

“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” — 

JOHN 16:33

“For I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand, Saying to you, ‘Fear not, I will help you.’”— ISAIAH 41:13