Mrs. Emily Fairfax Coates Sundt

Born in Houston, the daughter of Emily Davis Coates and Francis Graham Coates, she graduated from The Madeira School in Fairfax County, Virginia, attended Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, and graduated from The Dolmetshcer Sprachen Institute in Munich, Germany.

She played an active role in many cultural and charitable organizations in Houston, principally the Houston Ballet and the Houston Symphony. In Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she lived from time to time, she was also active with the Santa Fe Opera. She was a member of the Garden Club of Houston, Bolero and Bayou Club of Houston.

Mrs. Sundt was predeceased by her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Francis Graham Coates; and her sister, Merrick Davis Coates. She is survived by her husband, Peter ChristianSundt; daughters, Lisa Haemisegger and her husband Marcel Hogervorst of Zoetemeer, Netherlands and Emily Wynne Haemisegger Deckard and her husband Ronald Deckard of Martinsville, Indiana; grandchildren, Dillon Tyler Deckard and Dalton Alexander Deckard; sister, Cynthia Pennock Coates, of Santa Fe, New Mexico; and brother, Francis Graham Coates, Jr. and his wife Barbara, of Borrego Springs, California.

A memorial service is to be conducted at eleven o’clock in the morning on Friday, the 22nd of March, in the chapel of The Church of St. John the Divine, 2450 River Oaks Boulevard in Houston, where the Rev. Dr. Laurens A. Hall, Rector, is to officiate. Serving as honorary pallbearers during Friday's service are James A. Baker, III, Francis Graham Coates, Jr., John Elder, Victor A. Kormeier, Jr., Preston Moore, M.S. Stude and Wallace Wilson.

Immediately following, all are invited to greet the family during a reception in the nearby Sumners Hall.

Prior to Friday's memorial service, the family will have gathered for a private interment at the Albany Cemetery in Albany, Texas, where Dr. Mark S. White, Pastor of Matthews Memorial Presbyterian Church of Albany, is to officiate.

In lieu of customary remembrances, and for those desiring, the family requests with gratitude that memorial contributions in Mrs. Sundt’s name be directed to the Old Jail Art Center, 201 S. 2nd St., Albany, TX, 76430; or to the charity of one’s choice.