Laura Lee Custer

On Saint Patrick's Day, Sunday, March 17, 2024, surrounded by family at home, Laura Lee Watts Custer, peacefully entered her eternal life with our savior, Jesus Christ after an extended battle with Breast Cancer and Alzheimer's Disease. We will miss her dearly; however, we are consoled believing she is now with our heavenly Father, rejoicing pain free in all His glory.

Laura was beautiful, inside and out, and never met a soul that she didn't embrace with love and compassion. She radiated life with love, devotion and empathy which drew people to be near and dear to her. Her love for people and enjoyment of life was contagious as those around her enjoyed a judgement-free and accepting relationship. She often created and became “the life of the party.”

Laura was born on April 8, 1960, to Jo Ann Watts and Lesley B. Watts in Bay City, Texas. Laura was raised in West Columbia, TX until the age of 13, when she and her parents moved to Stavanger, Norway, where she spent her high school years living abroad and embracing the culture and wonderful experiences of her newly developed expat and Norwegian friends. Upon graduation from the Stavanger American School in 1978, she moved to Austin to attend the University of Texas.

In 1982, she met her future husband, Timothy Custer, at a Halloween party in Austin. Tim and Laura were married on April 5, 1986, in Houston, TX.

She graduated from the University of Texas in December 1983 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Radio-Television-Film. After graduation she began her career with Industrial Equities where she produced, edited and created marketing videos of their commercial real estate properties. She later continued her career with Big 3 Industries, which was subsequently acquired by Air Liquide America. She thoroughly enjoyed her work at Air Liquide, which provided her with a platform to embrace her creative view of the world. In fact, she introduced and developed the intranet web sites for Air Liquide America. She retired from Air Liquide in 2014 to complete her working career and focus on her family and community volunteering.

Laura adored her two children, Amanda and Dillon, and thoroughly embraced her new role as mom in the early 1990’s. She artfully balanced a professional career while participating as a room mom or volunteering at the school, reading to their classes. Her creativity wasn’t limited to work as she truly made a house into a home and thoroughly enjoyed making holidays come alive whether Christmas or one of her personal favorites, Halloween. In 2010, the family moved from Katy to Midland, TX. She embraced the move with all her heart and wound up falling in love with West Texas. While living in Midland she loved the simplicity of life and those beautiful West Texas sunsets.

In retirement she began her love of painting as she would spend days on end abstract painting with whatever came to her mind. Her works of art often included a subtle, but meaningful crucifix. A true illustration of her love for Christ. Laura also had a passion for traveling. Over the years she enjoyed many girls' weekends, couples' trips, and family vacations to many destinations.

In August of 2017, she was diagnosed with Metaplastic Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC) and began her brave and courageous fight at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. She valiantly endured numerous rounds of chemotherapy treatment only to frequently comment on “how fortunate she was to live in Houston” where she had the peace and comfort of going home each night after treatment to spend the evening with her loving husband and beloved canine companion, Murphy.

In January 2020, she was delighted to take on the new title of “LaLee” when she became a grandma. She made weekly visits to The Woodlands to spend quality time with her two granddaughters, Addison and Ellie, and lit up anytime they entered the room. They were such a bright light for her during her most challenging years.

Laura is preceded in death by her father, Leslie B. Watts. She is survived by her husband, Timothy Richard Custer, her daughter Amanda Michelle Carter (Brent) of Midland, TX; Dillon Richard Custer (Ally) of Midland, TX; her mother Jo Ann Watts of West Columbia, TX, her sister Sandi Griggs of Highlands, TX; and her brother David Watts (Cheryl) of Angleton, TX. Laura Lee (LaLee) is also survived by her precious granddaughters Addison Olivia and Ellie Clare Carter as well as numerous nieces, nephews, and sisters- and brothers- in-law.

The family would like to thank Dr. Clinton Yam, the nurses and staff at MD Anderson for the thoughtful and compassionate care they provided during Laura’s journey. A special thank you to Dr. Jenny Chang and her incredible staff of doctors and nurses at Houston Methodist Cancer Center for their valiant work to find a cure for TNBC. We would also like to thank Laura’s loving and compassionate caregivers, Crystal Jones, Nydia Collier and Peggy Rocha who showed us how truly beautiful and loving end-of-life care can be.

A visitation for Laura will be held Sunday, April 7th at Memorial Oaks Funeral Home located at 13001 Katy Freeway Houston, Texas 77079 from 6 pm to 8pm. Followed by a Funeral Mass at Saint Catherine of Siena on Monday, April 8th at 11am located at 10688 Shadow Wood Dr, Houston, TX 77043. We invite you to join us in fellowship at a reception held at Saint Catherine of Siena after the Funeral Mass.