Lillian Choate Lavender passed away in Amarillo, Texas, on Wednesday, September 15, 2021, at the age of 95 after a long happy life. Visitation will be held from 9 A.M. until 11 A. M. on Monday, September 20, at Griggs-Schooler-Gordon Funeral Home at 5400 Bell Avenue in Amarillo. Services will be held at 2 P.M. on Monday, September 20, in The Chapel of First Baptist Church in Amarillo with The Reverend Howard Batson officiating. Private interment will be at Memory Gardens Cemetery.
Mrs. Lavender was born in Lynn County near O’Donnell, Texas, on January 21, 1926, to James Franklin Choate and Cassandra Waldrep Choate. She married Darvey Lavender in Seymour, Texas, on April 2, 1944. Mrs. Lavender graduated from Draughon’s Business College in May, 1956.
During her lifetime, Mrs. Lavender was a dedicated Christian who served Jesus in each community where she lived and worked and who helped her husband as he pastored Bethel Baptist Church near Tahoka, Texas; YL Community Church near Muleshoe, Texas; School Creek Baptist Church near Lampasas, Texas; and Central Baptist Church in Anton, Texas. Mrs. Lavender also worked for Remington-Rand in Fort Worth and Texas Tech University in Lubbock. In February of 1986, Mrs. Lavender retired as an instructor for Administrative Information Systems after 22 years of service at Texas Tech, in her words “a wonderful place to work.”
Mrs. Lavender enjoyed visiting with friends and family, sewing, cooking, taking care of babies, kittens, and cats, and helping others. It was not unusual to find Mrs. Lavender in a store talking to someone who looked as if he needed a kind word, slipping a dollar to a four-year-old for some goodies, or sitting at a desk at midnight helping her daughter average grades for upcoming report cards.
Mrs. Lavender is survived by many family members and friends whom she loved dearly: son, Darvey Lavender (wife Rui Chou) of Toronto, Ontario, Canada; grandson Darvey Dustin Lavender of Virginia; grandson Scott David Lavender and great-grandson Joseph Daniel Lavender of Erie, Colorado; daughter Tresea Beasley (husband Jerry) of Amarillo, Texas; two god-granddaughters, Victoria Hughes (husband Diamon) of Amarillo, Texas, and Alicia Reyna and (husband Rafael) of Donna, Texas; sisters Marie McEwen (husband Donald) of Bowie, Texas, and Carolyn Walker of Oklahoma City; brothers Leonard Loys Fallin (wife Cathy) and Sydney Ray Fallin (wife Gwen) of Lubbock, Texas; nephew James Ralph Choate (wife Jan) of Lewisville, Texas; sisters-in-law: Norma Rose Choate of Lewisville, Texas; Ann Lavender Edwards (husband Jake) of Littleton, Colorado; and Peggy Fallin Dennis of Amarillo; a very close cousin Jackie Waldrep of Ozark, Missouri; adopted cousin Karen Evinger of Forsyth, Missouri, and numerous other nieces, nephews, and cousins.
Mrs. Lavender was preceded in death by her parents; her husband of fifty-eight years, the Reverend Darvey Dewey Lavender; her daughter-in-law Ann Cotton Lavender; her brother James Franklin Choate, Jr.; her brother John Edward Fallin; her brother Kenneth Earl Fallin; her nephew Dusty Don Fallin; and her nieces Sharon Choate Langham and Farah Thompson.
Memorials may be made to Perkins Community Center of First Baptist Church, 1208 S. Tyler, Amarillo, TX 79101, or to Gracie’s Project for the care and fostering of kittens and cats at P.O. Box 2512, Amarillo, TX 79105.
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