Laurie Birmingham Tice

Laurie Isabel Birmingham Tice, 88, died on August 4, 2018, in Abilene, Texas. She was a wife, mother, daughter, sister and friend. Her life was spent in service to her family and in bonds of friendship to many.

Laurie was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1930, the 3rd child of Edward and Marion Birmingham. Her father was a cattle buyer for Swift and Co. The family later transferred to Kansas City, Missouri (she always made it clear that she lived on the Missouri side of KC) where she spent the majority of her childhood. She attended Southwest High School in Kansas City and the University of Kansas, where she met the love of her life, Orbon Tice. They were married January 10, 1949 while still in school, and his career as a geologist took the family from Lawrence, Kansas to Abilene, Fort Worth, Albuquerque, and then back to Abilene, and later, a 4-year stint in Denver, with a final return to Abilene. The family often joked that Laurie and Orbon liked Abilene so much they moved there 3 times. They were married for 65 years until Orbon’s death in 2014. Laurie and Orbon had 5 children, keeping her busy with PTAs and school activities at 4 different schools for a number of years. Education was highly valued by both Laurie and Orbon for their children, and they took pride in each child’s educational accomplishments. Laurie was a devoted Catholic, spending a great deal of time each Sunday readying her children’s 5 separate Missals for the prayers and readings, and by halfway through Mass, all 5 Missals had usually been sent back down the pew for her to ready them again.

As her children finished school and settled elsewhere, Laurie played a little golf and played a lot of tennis, until her health required her to give them up, a setback she deeply resented for the rest of her life. She was an avid bridge player, telling her children dozens of times we should all learn to play bridge, as it demands strategy, study, and brainpower. Sadly, none of her children ever learned to play bridge. She and Orbon loved to travel; she probably enjoyed the cruises more than the fishing camps in Montana, but she went along just the same. Laurie also enjoyed traveling with her children; she and her son, Joe, took a trip to her family’s homeland, Ireland (making sure the trip included a trek over to Wimbledon to watch some tennis), traveled to Mexico with her daughter, Carol, to play tennis, and enjoyed Broadway shows and restaurants with daughter, Cindy, in NYC.

The Tice home was one filled with laughter, jokes, and loud, animated conversation, oftentimes finding several people talking at once about entirely different topics. Somehow, the Tice parents juggled it all and never ever intimated that anything their children were involved in was less important than anyone else’s interests. They raised their children to be devoted to the family unit, and that devotion is still steady today.

Laurie leaves behind a legion of friends in all the places they lived; she also managed to keep in close touch with her informal EDB high school sorority sisters, spread out all over the states. Her lifelong friends in Abilene, especially those with whom she raised her children and knew from church, all were very special to her to the end of her life.

Laurie is preceded in death by her husband, Orbon, her son, Joe, her parents, Edward and Marion, her sister, Barbara, and her brother, Edward Jr.

Survivors include her children and their families: Cathy and husband, Don Higgins of Trooper, PA (grandchildren Andy Higgins, Laurie Whitley and husband Alan, and greatgrandchildren JD and Alexander); Cindy and husband, Art Wiebusch of Midland, TX (grandchildren Eric Wiebusch and husband, Michael Krikorian, Spencer Wiebusch and wife, Rachel, and great-grandchildren Zane and Sawyer); Carol Tice of Eagle, ID (grandchildren Ben Davis, Becky Harpham and husband, Blake); Emily Tice and wife, Celine Caithamer of Spring, TX.

Special thanks is extended to Dr. Toby Williams for 30 years of service, and for the care and affection offered to Laurie by attendants at Wisteria Place Legacy Lane. A special thanks most especially goes to Brenda Lindsay, who was with our mother from the day she moved to Legacy Lane to the last day of her life there.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent to Hendrick Hospice, 1651 Pine St., Abilene, TX 79601, or St. Vincent De Paul Society, 1241 Walnut St., Abilene, TX 79601.

Services are under the care of Elliott-Hamil Funeral Home in Abilene. A funeral mass in Laurie’s memory will be said on Saturday, August 11, 2018, at Holy Family Catholic Church at 10:00 a.m., and burial will be at Buffalo Gap Cemetery at 11:30 a.m.