Katharine Louisa Powell

Katharine was born in La Grange, Texas, on the 24th of May 1921, to Hedwig Koehler Gebhardt of La Grange and Julius Anton Emil Gebhardt of Tiengen, Germany (now Waldshut-Tiengen).

Educated in La Grange and at Texas Lutheran College and the University of Texas at Austin, she earned a bachelor's degree in business and went on to work for American General Insurance in Houston, where she met Joseph Yancey Powell, Jr., her husband of 55 years.

As a wife, mother, and homemaker she contributed to her family, friends and community in many and varied ways. She was especially proud of her years volunteering for the Blue Bird Circle Clinic for Pediatric Neurology in Houston.

A fluent German speaker, she explored her German and German-Texan roots and family connections with a passion; she maintained those connections with relatives close and distant in both the U.S. and Germany, leaving her family with a priceless legacy. Katharine loved meeting people from all backgrounds. Dear to many, she is greatly missed.

Katharine was predeceased by her husband Joseph in 2004. She is survived by her daughters, Julia Powell and Alice Powell Clarke; son-in-law, George Clarke; granddaughter, Margaret Clarke; grandson, Joseph Clarke and his wife Orit Clarke; and great-grandson, George Idan Clarke.

For their loving concern and care for Katharine, the family expresses sincere gratitude to expert caretakers Stephanie King and April Fields and the devoted staffs of The Schulenburg Regency 300 wing and Hospice of South Texas.

Friends are cordially invited to a visitation with the family from six until eight o’clock in the evening on Monday, the 30th of November, in the drawing room of Geo. H. Lewis & Sons, 1010 Bering Drive in Houston.

A memorial service celebrating her life is to be conducted at three o’clock in the afternoon on Tuesday, the 1st of December, at First Presbyterian Church, 5300 Main Street in Houston.

Immediately following, all are invited to greet the family during a reception to be held in the nearby Fellowship Hall.

Prior to the service, the family will have gathered for a private interment at Forest Park Lawndale Cemetery in Houston.

In lieu of customary remembrances, the family requests with gratitude that memorial contributions in Katharine’s name be directed to the Blue Bird Circle Clinic for Pediatric Neurology at Texas Children's Hospital, 6701 Fannin St., Houston, TX, 77030.