Dorothy Driskel

She was preceded in death by her parents, Edward Dan and Lena Mitchell; her brother, Henry Dan Mitchell; her sisters: Louise Gum, Annette Shah and Vance Charlene Myers; her goddaughter, Sheila Ann Matthews; her beloved husband Howard Bailey Driskel; her precious daughter, Debra Ann Driskel. She is survived by her son, Robert Driskel; her daughter, Tina Waller; her grandsons: Robert Driskel II, Ryan Driskel, Michael Waller, Daniel Waller; her great-grandchildren, Robert (Robby) Driskel III, Annalisa Driskel, Makenzie Mae Waller; numerous nieces, nephews, great nieces, great nephews, great-great nieces, great-great nephews, and numerous cousins. Pallbearers: Robert Driskel II, Ryan Driskel, Michael Waller, Daniel Waller, Robert (Robby) Driskel III, Darrell Mitchell; Honorary Pallbearers: Brandon Mitchell, Michael Tusa, Charles Tusa and Vince Weido

Dorothy, through the decades of her life, was always kind, compassionate, very loving, and generous. She was very sentimental. She worried about everyone. Everyone who met her always said that she should have been a nurse. Being brought up in a strong, loving family environment, family was everything to her. She loved each and every family member unconditionally. She would drop whatever she was doing to help out anyone who needed her at the request of a phone call. She was always there for her brother and sisters and parents. She loved her cousin Kathy Weido, who always called her everyday, sometimes 2-5 times. She also loved Esther Chavez. She also loved her granddogs: Red, Gabbie and Nina; she would always talk to them and they followed and guarded her. The one thing she really did not care for much were cell phones and family on cell phones and computers all the time. She loved Elvis Presley, The Beatles and Shania Twain, all the old school crooners too, The Brat Pack; cranking up the volume and singing along. She loved watching Dancing With The Stars, The Voice, American Idol and her sports. She loved The Texans and JJ Watt, The Astros and Jose Altuve. The HEB commercials with either team. She loved her Yesterday,Today and Tomorrow plant, her Orchid tree, and her Jasmine in the front and back yards. She loved cooking for the holidays; Thanksgiving was traditional turkey and trimmings, Christmas was always lasagna, pasta and meatballs. She always made sausage rolls for her boys (Robby and Brandon). She had a great love and considered herself Brandon’s Grandmother. She always made a special pan of lasagna for him. Darrell, Kirsten and Brandon celebrated every holiday at our home from 2003 until this last Christmas of 2018. The highlight was when he went to college on a baseball scholarship. She could not wait for him to be the next Big League left- handed pitcher. She would make you a stuffed artichoke and pretty much anything you would ask for; and send home food for days. She loved all of her Grandsons: Robert, Ryan, Michael and Daniel. She used to watch Michael and he never wanted to come home. She would pick up Daniel from school and he would come hang out with her in middle school. She was very proud of the men they became. She always enjoyed the pop-in visits from Michael when he was on this side of town. She loved when Daniel would drop in from Georgia. She treasured the telephone calls just to say Hi and talk to her. She adored her Great-Granddaughter Makenzie Mae. They would go through her jewelry and perfume. She loved buying her beautiful Easter dresses and just having her around. She would make anything Makenzie wanted and then would say she doesn’t eat enough. They would have tea parties and special occasions together when she would come to spend the night. And she always made her a cake and had a small party for her birthday. Robby and Annalisa moved to Maine when they were young and she always made sure to send care packages to them. She never missed a birthday or Christmas. She would always be so tickled when they called. They came down the summer of 2013 and she took them on a shopping spree. When Robby came back to town he would come for long visits. She enjoyed these times and would over feed him. He was always helping her do something she needed. Robert would come and help her around the house at times. Ryan had moved to Waco, so he was further away. She always sent care packages and letters to Daniel while he was deployed. She always called everyone on their birthday. Family meant everything to her. She will be deeply missed and forever loved by us all; for her warmth, thoughtfulness and the little things that she would do for each of us just because she loved us and most of all for her beautiful heart. Dorothy was a devout Catholic, and a member of Christ the King Church for forty years. She began attending Saint Leo the Great when she moved to the Aldine area. The last year of her life she watched Mass everyday, sometimes all day at home.

Take this moment to go through the decades of her long life.

Her First Decade birth to 10 (1932-1942)

She officially celebrated 2 official leap year birthdays.

Born in Mart, Texas , She grew up in Marlin,Texas, living with her parents and grandparent who had her eight daughters and sons, in an Italian household on a cotton farm. Surrounded by her eight aunts and uncles, they would all go out and pick cotton while she would watch from a blanket. And, oh yes, she picked cotton too. She walked the railroad tracks with her Uncle Frank; she bore the scar of a railroad tie on her right knee. She loved her Aunt Dora. It was amazing to hear all the stories on how to make meals stretch to feed all of them and a few neighbors too. A horse looked at her once and she never wanted anything to do with them again. On Sunday after church they always had a roasted chicken with pasta. She grew up with a Grandmother who only spoke Italian. She did not speak it, but she understood it very well. She would tell of all the girls in one room and boys sleeping in another room. Can you picture this in your mind? A tiny house with only two bedrooms and one bathroom; they all spilled over to pallets on the floors. You have to remember she was growing up during the time of WWII and the Great Depression in a very poor household. She gained a baby brother Henry and a little sister Louise. When she was ten they moved to the Houston Heights area.

Her Second Decade 10-20 (1942-1952)

She officially celebrated 3 leap year birthdays

She grew up off White Oak Drive and Micheaux. She would walk all the way to Travis Elementary School over by North Main Street. They moved off Coronado and she attended Hogg Junior High School and John H. Reagan High School. This is where she met her future husband Howard. She worked for Southwestern Bell Telephone on Ashland Street. Howard joined the United States Navy, and was stationed in San Diego, California. She married Howard August, 4 1951, in Yuma, Arizona. She also gained a little sister Annette (1942) and another sister Charlene (1946)

Her Third Decade 20-30 (1952-1962)

She officially celebrated 2 leap year birthdays.

She lived the high life in San Diego. She transferred from Southwestern Bell to Pacific Bell. They had friends that they would go to Tijuana , Mexico with, hitting the beaches and having fun going to clubs. However, my Dad was in the Korean War at this time. His ship would go to Japan and be gone for months at a time. It wasn’t like it is now. There was zero communication other than letters. She also started her own family in San Diego. She had her first child, Robert on December 4, 1956. He was born with a dislocated collar bone. She had a little hand book from the pediatrician and followed it to the T. She had her second child, Debra on May 9, 1959. She was a very strong woman. Her daughter was born with hydrocephalus. This required many, many surgeries and constant care. In 1960, they returned to Houston. She was pregnant with her third child and needed the additional family support. She had third daughter, Tina (1960) while her second child was in another hospital having surgery. Debra Ann did not make that surgery and passed away May 2, 1960. This loss was unbearable. Yet she persevered. She managed to continue to raise her two children and function with the love and support of all her family. She ran the company business that my Father started out of our home, and always had everything done. She was a Superwoman. Dorothy had never learned to drive and had a son she needed to take to school. So she learned how to drive a 1954 Chevy (Standard) by driving up and down the shell road we lived on.

Her Fourth Decade 30-40 (1962-1972)

She celebrated 3 official leap year birthdays

Being a stay-at-home wife, mother and running a business, as well as household. Dorothy managed to make sure her children were always taken care of. She would carpool with other parents and always made sure we had what we needed. Just think there were two of us doing two different types of activities, and on top of this she would volunteer at the Christ The King Library. She would go shopping with her sisters; her Mother did not drive so they would go shopping together. She was always ready and willing to help anyone. And never complained. We spent time going to see Aunt Opal and Uncle Bob. She took care of Aunt Opal when she became ill and did the same for Uncle Bob. She would take her children to visit their only great-grandmother.

Her Fifth Decade 40-50 (1972-1982)

She celebrated 2 official leap year birthdays

Dorothy returned to work in the late seventies. At first she just wanted a little part-time job to help put her daughter in the drill team. She ended up working until she finally retired in 1999. She and her daughter went to visit her best friend in San Diego and stayed for a week. She showed her daughter all the places she lived and ate. We even brought a pizza home for her husband. She also managed to go up to Dallas and help with her dying sister-in-law, Joyce. She watched both of her children marry and go on to become parents. She welcomed her first grandson Robert in 1980; her second grandson, Michael, was born in 1981. She was a loving grandmother, always spoiling her grandchildren and feeding them spaghetti and meatballs She always spoiled everyone and even spoiled their dog Koi-Lei by making him scramble eggs every morning before going to work. Fun fact, did you know that women were not allowed to have a credit card in their name until 1974? It was always Mrs. H. B. Driskel.

Her Sixth Decade 50-60 (1982-1992)

She celebrated 3 official leap year birthdays and her sister Annette threw a HUGE surprise party for her.

After a devastating loss of her Father in 1983, Dorothy was blessed with two more grandsons this decade. Daniel was born 1986 and Ryan was born 1990. All she wanted was one more and it to be a girl. Her children said, "I don’t think so." Now she had two more boys to spoil. And when we all got together they could be a little ruff. She traveled out of the country for the second time in her life; she and her daughter went to the Bahamas for a week. She also lost her Uncle Joe in 1991.

Her Seventh Decade 60-70 (1992-2002)

She celebrated 3 official leap year birthdays; this one was really special. Channel 13 was running a program on Leap Year babies and Don Nelson and Tom Koch came to Pilgrim to interview her. They came to her store regularly (we still have the video). These were some pretty tough years. She took care of and stayed with her mother-in-law and helped her until her death in 1993, She buried her father-in-law, Ray, the following year, 1994. The loss did not stop... she lost her Uncle Joe in 1991, brother-in-law, Buddy in 1992 and in 1997 her Aunt Josephine, her sister Louise, her Aunt Annie and her Aunt Fena. She retired from Pilgrim Cleaners after 23 years, to take care of and watch her husband Howard pass away from cancer in 1999. This was the most devastating year; it was time to put this decade to rest. Yet as with the beautiful circle of life, she was presented with her first great-grandchild, Robert (Robby) in 1999.

Her Eighth Decade 70-80 (2002-2012)

She celebrated 2 official leap year birthdays. She had a party in 2008, the first without her grandson Daniel. The second was a surprise plant party held at her home when she received her Orchid tree and yellow Jasmine. The great joy of having a great-grandchild, was the highlight of her life. She was presented with two more this decade. Annalisa in 2003 and Makenzie Mae in 2008 and she was tickled pink to have some girls now. She felt greatly honored with the fact that one would carry on her middle name. Yet, this decade also brought with it much pain and sorrow. She went with her sister Annette to company Christmas parties. They traveled to San Antonio and stayed on the Riverwalk, finally she stayed a year helping her sister Annette and watching her suffer with cancer until she passed in 2002. The losses continued, she lost her Uncle Vince in 2004 and Aunt Dorothy (Dora) her namesake who she went to Arizona with, her sister Charlene to visit for a week. She lost her Aunt Katherine in 2005. She and her sister Charlene would drive to Waco and stay with their Uncle Frank. She even ventured the Waco drives all by herself on occasions to visit Uncle Frank. He was her last uncle and passed away in 2007, and that was it for all of her aunts and uncles. She saw her grandson Daniel join the United States Army and ship off to Iraq in 2005-2006 and was over the moon when he returned in 2006, only to see Daniel deploy again in 2007-2008; after his return, he was out. That made her very happy. She helped in caring for her baby sister Charlene, who suffered with cancer and passed away in 2009. This was it. She had lost all of her siblings. She was the oldest and lived the longest. Her daughter had major cancer surgery in 2009. Her son suffer through major surgery in 2010 to remove cancer and again in 2011. He still continues to battle with melanoma. This year was very unkind. Yet she persevered.

Her Ninth Decade 80-87 (2012-2019)

She officially celebrated 1 leap year birthday. The last one being in 2016. Her brother-in-law surprised her and took her and her daughter to lunch. She was so hoping to make her official 88th birthday in 2020. God had other plans. This decade was not to kind to her. She began suffering her own health issues. On her official leap year 80th birthday she was in the hospital. She came home from that and continued to have health problems. For a year we went weekly to the doctor to figure out what was wrong. She had exploratory surgery in 2013 for a Thecoma. She continued to see her son go through multiple rounds of radiation therapy. She really needed two new knees and two new hips but the replacement surgery was pending several factors. Then age took its toll and made it too risky. Her daughter was spending most of her time living with her until she moved back home in 2017. She was diagnosed with End Stage Renal Disease and we were doing our best for a year and a half to keep her from going on dialysis. In 2018 she had cataract surgery and it just did not work for her. She had eye injections 3 times and it was starting to clear up. However, she never drove again. At the end of the year we needed to prepare for dialysis. The process had begun to do this at home. She ended up staying in the hospital after a periport was placed due to her impressive blood pressure. January 3, 2019 she was admitted into the hospital and a temporary central line was place in her aorta. She began dialysis in the hospital. Once she was released we went every day for 8 days so her daughter could learn how to do dialysis at home. We were officially set free to do home dialysis January 18. We tried this through February 24. She had a tunnel port put into her aorta on January 18 because her numbers were too low. We went to hemo for 2 weeks and restarted her home dialysis March 9. Again her numbers did not improve so we were going to go the home hemo route and training. It had a 4 month wait time and she was started on hemo again on March 27. On April 10 they ran into a blockage of the port and we needed it replaced. This was done on April 12 and she resumed hemo on April 13. The second time in hemo she said it just was not working as well as the first time. On April 18 she was taken to the ER by ambulance. When her daughter arrived she had been intubated and placed in ICU. She was extubated on April 22nd. They scheduled a surgery on April 23rd to remove her peri port and she developed sepsis. She remained in the ICU unit until she passed away on April 27, 2019 at 1:59 p.m. She was surrounded by her daughter and long-time friend from Pilgrim, Esther and her husband.

She lived through 15 presidents and could tell you where she was when JFK was shot, part of the Great Depression and 5 major wars. She grew up to see radio, televisions, color televisions, air conditioners, men going to space, walking on the moon, the space shuttle and space stations, drive-in movies, movies theaters, movie taverns, and all the beginnings of music recorded from 78's to ITunes.

Family will received friends and extended family for services at Brookside Funeral Home, 13747 Eastex Freeway, Houston, Texas 77039. Visitation will be Tuesday, May 7, 2019 from 12:00 - 2:30 p.m. The funeral service will begin at 2:30 p.m. in the Family Chapel, followed by the interment in Brookside Memorial Park. A reception will be held after the interment at the funeral home from 3:30 - 5:30 p.m.