Barbara Ann Darlene Mixon

Barbara was born on March 16, 1933 in Brownstown, Illinois to Pluma Barricklow and Jesse Switzer. Barbara was the fourth of five girls in her family. Barbara graduated from the Brownstown Community High School in Brownstown, IL, class of 1951.

The Switzers moved to Houston in the 1950’s, where Barbara met Thomas Vancen Mixon, a Korean War veteran and ex-Marine; they married in 1958. For the next 65 years she lived a life in South Houston and then Pearland, devoted to her family and her church. She taught Sunday School for most of her adult life at the First Baptist Church of South Houston and also served as the church’s teller.

Barbara and Tom were blessed with four children: identical twins Bret and Bart, a daughter Melody, and a son, Thomas Jr. Barbara supported her children in all their endeavors. She was a mother to not only her own four children, but her love extended to all the Mixon children’s young friends. She was the joyful mom who took the children and their friends everywhere. Today, many of the children’s friends say they modeled their motherhood after Barbara’s example of love and devotion.

After over a decade working in banking, Barbara gave up that career with the birth of her daughter and oversaw the finances of the family’s businesses - first an indoor shooting range in South Houston and then rental warehouses in the South Houston area.

Barbara is preceded in death by her parents, Pluma and Jesse Switzer; sisters, Mary Goldhagen, Betty Coale, and Shirley Perkins.

Left to cherish her memory is her husband of 65 years, Thomas V Mixon; her four children and three grandchildren; Bart and his wife Laura and their son Andrew; Bret and his wife Susan; daughter Melody; and their youngest son, Thomas and his wife Cynthia and their two daughters Harper and Grace. She is also survived by her younger sister, Ramona Philpot of Vandalia, IL.

Barbara participated in local bowling leagues in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. She enjoyed traveling, with her sisters to Switzerland, the home of their ancestors, and Greece and Acapulco, Mexico. She enjoyed playing cards, bunco and dominoes, watching Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy and reading James Patterson novels.

The family would like to thank long time friend Jimmie Bacon for her decades of friendship and Viviana Morales for the care and companionship she showed Barbara in her final years.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.ForestParkLawndaleFH.com for the Mixon family.

Her funeral will be held Thursday, April 6, 2023 in the Colonial Chapel at Forest Park Lawndale Cemetery, 6900 Lawndale, Houston, TX 77023 713-928-5141. Public Visitation is at 1:00 PM, with the Chapel Service at 2:00 PM, followed by the Burial at 3:00 PM.