Winifred "Winnie" Ann Honeywell

Winifred “Winnie” Ann (Tarr) Honeywell, our beloved mother, grandmother, sister, and friend, passed away peacefully on March 17, 2025. Winnie had lived at Belmont Village Senior Living since her husband Wally’s death last April. She was supported by their staff, her caregiver Anissa Fisher, Bayou City Hospice, and her loved ones in the last week of her life. Winnie is survived by her four sons and daughter-in-laws: Mark (Eileen) Summit, Kevin (Susan Diamond) Honeywell, Doug (Cathy) Honeywell, and Robert (Moira Stone) Honeywell; granddaughters Bridget Summit, Emily Honeywell, Becky Summit, Claire (Evan) Castillo, Libby (Josh Baker) Buck, and Abby (Phil) Terrazas; great grandson Elijah Castillo; sister Susie (Jim) Walford and her children, Catherine (Mark) Patterson, Daniel (Lauren) Walford, Sarrah (Joel) Martin, and their children; and brother-in-law Jim Honeywell (Ann) and nephews Jay, Tyler, and their families. Winnie was preceded in death by her devoted husband of 65 years, Wallace “Wally” Honeywell, her brother Timothy Tarr, Susie’s husband Jim Walford, her parents, Agnes and Lloyd Tarr, and several dear friends, including Sister Adeline O’Donoghue and Monsignor Ed Randall.

Winnie was born in Los Angeles on March 4th, 1939. She was the first child of Drs. Lloyd and Agnes Tarr, physicians who lived in Taft, California at the time. Her brother Tim was born a year and half later, and then her sister Susie, a few years after that.

Winnie enjoyed school and was very involved in school activities. She was the Homecoming Queen of her high school! She graduated at the top of her class and received a scholarship to Stanford University. At Stanford she studied German and began dating Wally. They were both part of the first “Stanford in Germany” class, studying there in 1958. Wally and Winnie were married soon after, on March 7th, 1959. Winnie continued her studies and graduated with a degree in German, even as she became pregnant and had her first son Mark. Over the next 5 years, Winnie had 3 more sons, Kevin and Doug, born in Los Angeles while Wally was getting his Ph.D., and Robert, born in Leiden, Holland, where the family lived while Wally was teaching on a postgraduate fellowship.

In the summer of 1965, the family settled in Houston, where Wally taught chemical engineering at the University of Houston. Winnie was a busy mother and homemaker until the kids were all in grade school. At that time, Winnie went back to school to get the first of two Master’s Degrees, in Religious Education. She was then hired to work for the Family Life Office of the Galveston-Houston Diocese. She worked there until her retirement, over 35 years later. As Family Life Director, Winnie worked on many projects and events to improve marriage preparation and family enrichment programs in the Diocese and became a nationally known leader and speaker on Catholic family life issues. She also taught classes at St. Mary’s seminary in Houston, with an emphasis on family systems theory and marriage preparation.

Winnie was always active in her faith and was passionately committed to social justice and Catholic Social Teaching. She wrote a newspaper op-ed in response to MLK’s death, which was republished in the Houston Chronicle 40 years later. Winnie and Wally went on ‘The Donahue Show’ to promote “Parenting for Peace and Justice.” They participated in a documentary on desegregation in their Riverside neighborhood, “This Is Our Home, It Is Not For Sale.”

Winnie was especially devoted to volunteer work supporting marriage and families: she and Wally spent numerous weekends giving Marriage Encounter retreats. They became active in the national leadership, driving the boys on cross-country trips to Marriage Encounter conferences and staying with “ME” families along the way. When they were older, the boys joined Winnie and Wally in leading similar family retreats (Family Encounters and Parent-Teen Encounters). Winnie and Wally welcomed many UH students, patients getting treatment at the Medical Center and their families, pregnant women needing support and others into the family home. Throughout the years, they provided marriage preparation for dozens of couples in their parish, continuing well into their retirement.

Winnie was a dedicated grandmother, guiding and supporting her four granddaughters from infancy to adulthood. She loved and cared for the two local granddaughters, Emily and Claire, and took many trips to Oregon to visit and enjoy the other two, Bridget and Becky. Winnie was very supportive of all of their endeavors, encouraging them, attending their events, and supporting their college educations. She was a wonderful listener, never judgmental, always patient, and an amazing example of a woman who faithfully supported her family and the world around her.

Winnie had a dynamic, if quiet, presence. She was a deep feeler and thinker. She was faithful and intentional. We remember her sitting in her rocking chair in the living room, by the front window, reading in the early morning. We remember that she always had several books next to her bed. She led a life of thoughtfulness, curiosity and service. She is greatly missed.

Family and Friends are invited to Winnie’s Celebration of Life, which will be held on 5/4/25 at Park Forest Lawndale Funeral Home and Cemetery, at 11am; Reception to follow.

If you would like to make a gift in Winnie's honor, please consider making a donation to Casa Juan Diego at PO BOX 70113, Houston, TX, 77270.

Winnie will be interred in a private ceremony on 5/4/25, in The Abbey Mausoleum at Park Forest Lawndale Cemetery.

The family would like to thank Father Mario Arroyo for celebrating Winnie's Rite of Committal.