Services for Naomi LaVerne Calloway, 98, of Lufkin, will be held at 11:00 a.m. Thursday, June 23, 2022 in the Gipson Funeral Home Chapel, with Pastor Gene Hazell officiating. Interment will follow in the Whitehouse Cemetery.
Mrs. Calloway was born March 29, 1924 in Bell County, Texas, the daughter of the late Naomi Delzie (Guentzel) and James Harold Casey. She passed away Wednesday, June 15, 2022 in Lufkin.
Mrs. Calloway was born in a rock house overlooking the Lampasas River near Salado, Texas in 1924. She was the eldest of eight children and grew up during the Great Depression. She had a very interesting and colorful life. She was an Army wife for twelve years, living in both Germany and Panama while her husband was on active duty. She and Earl worked together in the ministry while in Panama and held a Bible School with more than 700 native Panamanian children in attendance. After leaving the Army and returning to Texas, Earl became an ordained Southern Baptist Minister and together they pastored churches in the Central Texas area, eventually moving to Lufkin to accept the pastorate at Providence Baptist Church in Hudson, where they served the Lord and the church for several years. In later years, they pastored Apple Springs Baptist Church. LaVerne was blessed to have traveled the world and enjoyed a long and fulfilling life. She lived in Lufkin for more than fifty years and was formerly a member of Southside Baptist Church and in more recent years, she was a member of Fairview Baptist Church.
LaVerne loved to cook and was a devoted wife, mother and was an extraordinary homemaker. She loved to sew and made all of her girls’ clothing when they were young. She was a talented seamstress. She had a real flair for decorating and took great pride in her home. She had a green thumb and loved working in her yard. She was the original fashionista and worked in retail ladies clothing for many years, managing a department at Clark’s Department Store and later at Lanita’s Boutique in the Lufkin Mall. She loved her family dearly and was a godly Christian woman of great faith.
Survivors include her daughters, Patricia Stafford Van Parys and husband Don of Tacoma, Washington and Pamela Hayes and husband Kenneth of Lufkin; son, John Phillip Calloway of Lufkin; sister, Margaret Goodwin of Mobile, Alabama; grandchildren, Dixie, Jeffrey, Lauren, Joel Phillip and Andrew; sisters-in-law, Juhree Casey and Beverly Casey; 8 great-grandchildren; and numerous nieces, nephews and other family members.
LaVerne was preceded in death by her parents James Harold and Naomi Delzie (Guentzel) Casey; her husband of 45 years, Hollis Earl Calloway; brothers, Billy Ray Casey, Jesse Harold Casey and Johnny Paul Casey; sisters, Dorothy (Casey) Aaron, Dessie Ellen (Casey) Green and Joanne (Casey) Noland; and her beloved grandson, Kent Mundell.
The family would like to extend special thanks to Dr. Sudheer Karnati who has taken such great care of Mom for more than 20 years, and to the staff at Larkspur Nursing Home, and especially to her guardian angel, Tesé Martin Stone, and to the doctors and nurses at Memorial Hospital for their tender loving care of our Mom.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the American Cancer Society or to the charity of your choice.
The family will receive friends from 9:00 a.m. to service time Thursday morning at the funeral home.
Condolences may be offered at www.gipsonfuneralhome.com
Services have been placed in the trust of Gipson Funeral Home.
