Gwendolyn Sue Robertson

Gwendolyn Sue Robertson, 74, of Leesville, passed away Saturday, March 14, 2015, at Christus St. Frances Cabrini Hospital. Friends may call from 5:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. at Hixson Funeral Home, Leesville, and from 11:00 a.m. until time of service Wednesday at First Baptist Church, Leesville. A homegoing service will be held Wednesday, March 18, at 2:00 p. m., at First Baptist Church, with Rev. Craig Forque and Rev. Jeff Coleman officiating. Burial will follow at Pine Hill cemetery.

Sue was born August 31, 1940, in Odessa, Texas, to D. J. “Sundown” and Eva Robertson. After living a short time in Shreveport, Louisiana, the family moved to Leesville in 1948. She graduated from Leesville High School in 1958. Throughout her life, she enjoyed reading, painting, cooking, sewing, and studying genealogy.

Even at an early age, Sue knew she was called to be a positive influence on children, and she made this her life’s mission. She obtained a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education from Louisiana College in 1962, where she was active in Delta Kappa Gamma. Later on, Sue became a member of Alpha Delta Kappa professional teacher’s sorority as well. For more than 20 years, she was a dedicated and masterful first grade teacher at West Leesville Elementary. In 1984, she began working for the Vernon Parish School Board office as a SPUR Technician as part of a program to improve children’s reading abilities.

Beginning in 1953, she was an active member of First Baptist Church in Leesville. Through the years Sue worked faithfully, teaching Sunday School, youth Sunday School, Vacation Bible School, Acteens, and Sunbeams, and volunteering in the nursery. She was a frequent chaperone on youth trips and spent countless hours connecting with and investing in young people. Her faith was the center of all she did, not only at church but everywhere she went.

Although she was a servant at work and church, nowhere did she serve more than at home with her family. She retired from the work she loved to become the primary fulltime caregiver for her ailing parents in their final years. As both a child and an adult she provided care and support to her five sisters and always acted as though whatever they needed was exactly what she most wanted to do in that moment. She doted on her nieces and nephews, to whom she was a second mother. Her love for and genuine interest in people made her family and the friends who knew her best all feel as though they were her favorite.

Sue was preceded in death by her father, Dennie Jefferson Robertson; her mother, Eva Palestine Ray Robertson; and one sister, Eva “Joyce” Shoults.

Survivors include four sisters, Loretta Forque of Leesville; Esther Drury of Ponchatoula; Ailene Robinson and her husband, Nick, of Alexandria; and Marguerite Lawrence and her husband, Bob, of Leesville; brother-in-law John Avery Shoults and his wife, Pat, of Sulfur; seven nieces and nephews, John Henry Shoults and his wife, Partini, of San Jose, California; Teresa Hunt and her husband, Tim, of DeRidder; Kathleen Sliman and her husband, Peter, of Leesville; Craig Forque and his wife, Ovina, of Leesville; Marilyn Reed and her husband, Mike, of Lake Charles; Lori Plummer and her husband, Doug, of Anacoco; and Elizabeth Robinson of Alexandria; and 11 great-nieces and great-nephews.

Pallbearers honored to serve will be Stephen Briscoe, Andrew Forque, Seth Forque, Doug Plummer, Mike Reed, David Riley, Peter Sliman, and Jonathon Williams. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Youth Camp fund at First Baptist Church, 1400 Nolan Trace, Leesville, LA 71446.