Emma F. "Annie" Eakin

Born as Emma Frances in San Antonio, Texas on September 27th, 1923, she was the youngest of three children. She moved to Houston as a youngster when her mother Hazel remarried to Herbert L. Flake, who promptly dubbed her Annie after the cartoon waif, because of her curly red hair. The nickname stuck, and everyone knew her as Annie from then on.

Annie graduated from Milby High School and attended the University of Houston, studying accounting at the start of WWII. Her middle sibling, Elmer "Buddy" Speelman, was killed while bombing the Ploesti oil fields with the 459th Bomber Group on May 6th, 1944.

At the end of WWII, she married a handsome returning Navy sailor, also a Milby graduate, Thomas Paul Peschka. They worked for many years at the family business with her sister Marie and husband Red Lawyer, and nephews and niece Bill and Jeanette McWhorter, George McWhorter, Clyde Mahavier, grandniece Cindy McWhorter and son Thomas Lee. They lived in the Westbury subdivision for 24 years. Tom P. passed away in 1986.

She later married her beloved Sidney William Eakin, Jr. They have been enjoying retirement together for 23 years in Galveston and near the golf course in Country Place, south of Houston, where she will be greatly missed. She loved Galveston, spending many weekends at the Flake home on Ave. M and later most of the summer months at the 'Blue House' at Terramar Beach, next door to great friends Lloyd and Cookie Pepper. Surrounded by friends and relatives, Annie would play her ukulele while leading the singing on the back porch, when there was not a midnight floundering trip planned. Sid is a Navy vet and dedicated saltwater fisherman.

Sid, her son Tom L. and his wife Karen Kraemer Peschka want to give special thanks to Sid's sister Marlene and husband Carl Mitchell and their daughter Nancy Mollard for their help over the years, and to Arnie for inspiration with the computer.

Annie passed away after a short illness Wednesday morning, August 11th, 2010. She was with us 86 years. A memorial will be held in the Chapel of the Angels on August 21st at noon. Please remember her always, whether you can be with us or not. She was loved.