following a valiant struggle with lymphoma. She was born in Austin on April 13, 1938, the only child of Tellie and Lois Ford LaBauve.
A lifelong Texan, Louise worked and lived almost all her life in the city of her birth. She graduated from
Stephen F. Austin High School and earned both BFA and MFA degrees from the University of Texas, where she studied painting under William Lester. Her formal artistic training also included summer study in Mexico and in Banff, Canada. In 1960, Louise married fellow UT graduate Floyd C. Saxon, Jr. of Baytown, with whom she had two children, and by whom she was predeceased in 1990.
Working chiefly from her home studio, Louise created a highly imaginative body of artistic work in a
variety of styles and mediums. Though her palette could be muted and her paintings subtle and abstract, she also found inspiration in Latin American themes and motifs and filled many of her canvases with swirling motion and vivid colors. Well known in the local area, Louise exhibited her work at Laguna Gloria and other venues in Austin and Central Texas, and her remarkable paintings hang as her legacy in homes both in Texas and beyond.
In addition to painting, Louise also taught children’s art classes in schools and at the Elizabeth Ney Museum. She was employed as Assistant Director of Development at the University of Texas Press for a decade, during which she always served this critical University operation with great pride. She helped lead and drive the successful formation of the first University of Texas Press Advisory Council. Her
responsibilities also included traveling to major academic conferences throughout the country to handle the displays and marketing of scholarly works from UT Press at these meetings.
Louise’s creativity extended to the written word as well. In 2003, when the Humanities Institute put out a call for Austin residents to share their stories about life in Central Texas, of over 800 short personal narratives submitted, hers was one of the 127 selected for publication in the award-winning anthology “Writing Austin’s Lives; A Community Portrait.” She was also the author of “Journeys and Getaways: Women in Midlife Find Paths to Stability,” a book dealing with the struggles of five anonymous women as they attempted to transcend unforeseen personal, financial and health crises in midlife.
As her many friends will attest, Louise was always fun to be with. She had a sparkling sense of humor and was a keen observer, forever on the lookout for oddities and anomalies which she would describe with a dry wit uniquely her own. She played the piano with skill and pleasure throughout her life, with a love for music ranging from classical, including opera, to jazz.
Above all, Louise was an exceptionally generous and caring person who never failed to put others’ needs and concerns ahead of her own. Even the painting she so loved would be willingly laid aside if a friend or family member needed her. Her kind and self-effacing ways were both an example and an inspiration to those who knew and loved her, and by whom she will be greatly missed.
Louise is survived by her son Bradley Saxon of Austin and her daughter Sidney Saxon and adored
granddaughter Aubrey Saxon, both of Lakeway. She is also survived by many cherished cousins in both the Ford and the LaBauve families, and by the three playmates from earliest childhood who became her special life-long friends, Jane Ann (Moore) Taylor of Boulder, Colorado; Sheila (Winship) Davis of Gamaleil, Arkansas; and Annette (LaBauve) Bassett of Ellsworth, Maine.
At Louise’s request, there will be no service. Memorial donations may be made to the charity or cause of your choice. True service comes from the heart.
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