Mother was a kind and gentle woman who would suffer any abuse or pain rather than pass it along to another person. She raised five children and lost her first-born son to premature birth and undeveloped lungs about 24 hours after birth. I was her second son, and was followed by brothers Bob and Bill then sisters Mary and Karen. And, despite the hardships life dealt us she still managed to almost always have a smile on her face and a cheerful spirit ready to lift up anybody who needed a kind word.

She was a Sunday School teacher for many years and was active in her Baptist Church home since 1946 until the day she died. She also served many years in the Order of the Eastern Star and held numerous officership positions including Worth Matron, Associate Matron, and Chapter Secretary, along with dad who was a Freemason and member of the Scottish Rite in addition to his membership in the OES. She acquired her Texas Real Estate Broker's License in about 1972, and later worked as bookkeeper for a friend's electrical company in Dallas just before and after dad's death.

There are not enough good words to say about mother. She was always there for us when we needed her and no amount of personal sacrifice was ever too great for her to make for a family member or friend - she was just that way! My mother believed in always seeing the good in people and situations, and she tried to pass that along to her children, along with life's lessons which would guide our way through childhood, then adulthood. Everybody who knew her loved her because she had a kind and good heart.