Know to his brothers and sisters as Buster, he was born in Deadwood, Texas on January 15, 1919. He was the eight of twelve children born to Thomas and Carrie Mixon. He grew up on the farm during the depression years where the family saw very little real money. He said some years, they were lucky to see 25 cents in actual money. They farmed and took the harvest to pay for what they needed at the store. He talked of their once a year trip before school where they hooked the team up to the wagon and rode miles to the store to but their school shoes. In his early years of school, he walked three miles to a two room, two teacher school. He later finished high school at Longstreet, Louisiana. After that, he studied business administration at school in Monroe, Louisiana.
When World War II came, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy in February, 1942, where he served in the South Pacific Theater. He served at San Diego, San Francisco, the Solomon Islands and the Fiji Islands. He was discharged in November, 1945. He was most proud of his service to his country.
After his discharge, he moved to Houston, Texas where he met and married his loving wife, Arveda Bryant Mixon on February 8, 1947.
He accepted a job with Smith Industries, Inc. as an accountant and he eventually was promoted to Treasurer of the company. He retired after 32 years of service.
During his life, he was active in Boy Scouts and in his later years, volunteering at hospitals and eldercare. He loved the outdoors and was an avid gardener. He always had a large garden growing all types of vegetables with tomatoes being his particular interest, trying different variations. The backyard of his home in Jersey Village, Texas after his retirement was filled with flowers around his outdoor deck that he could also see from his large sun room that he and his wife spent so much time relaxing in. He also kept busy with his woodworking. He spent a lot of time in the garage working on his projects as he added to the houses he and Arveda owned with decks, patios, sun rooms, etc.
Thomas was one of the original members of Terrace United Methodist Church in Houston, Texas and helped to construct parts of the church. When he moved to Austin, he became a member of Oak Hill United Methodist Church.
During his retirement years, he and Arveda were very active in various square dancing organizations in the Houston area and took many trips to square dancing festivals and competitions. They also traveled to various locations they had always wanted to see such as Canada, the Scandinavian countries, and many places in the United States.
In May of 1997, they moved to Austin, Texas where their kids and grandkids lived. He and Arveda spent a lot of time with the grandkids, taking them on many trips such as a train trip to the Grand Canyon and other places and attending youth league sporting and high school drill team events.
Thomas was survived by his loving wife of 69 years Arveda, his two children, Myron of Austin, Texas and Sharon of Dallas, Texas, and his two grandkids, Lance and Christine of Austin, Texas. All were fortunate to be together at Thomas’ passing. The family wishes to acknowledge the excellent care he received in the memory care section at Pavilion at Great Hills and especially at Windsor Nursing and Rehabilitation Center of Duval during his last months.
The family will receive friends from 11:00 A.M. to 1:00 P.M., Wednesday, July 27, 2016, at Cook-Walden/Forest Oaks Funeral Home followed by a Celebration of Thomas’ Life in the Chapel at 1:00 P.M., with Rev. Pam Sheffield officiating. Interment will follow at Cook-Walden/Forest Oaks Memorial Park.
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