Beatrice Garland, 89, went home to be with the Lord on January 25, 2014 in Houston, Texas. She was born July 1, 1924 in Westlake, Louisiana to Azaline Vincent and Paul Hawkins. Ms. Garland is preceded in death by her mother and father, sister Jessie May Hawkins, brother Carl Hawkins, and son Robert Roy Shelden Jr. She is survived by her three children, daughter Cathy Garland and son Terry (Raven) Garland Jr., and daughter Brenda Haltom; ten grandchildren, Mike, Tina, and John Shelden, Randy and Robbie DeBow, Mary (Chris) Scutt, Jason (Olivia) and Christian (Peggy) Garland, Joseph Vela (Tammi) and Joshua Haltom; great grandchildren, Spencer, Samuel, and Sawyer Scutt, Patrick Garland, and Brent and Jesse Vela as well as other relatives and friends. She graduated from Westlake High School in 1941. After graduating, she went to school at the Aeronautics Institute in Shreveport, Louisiana. She received a letter of recommendation to work at Hughes Aircraft in California. She went there to help in the war effort as a “Rosie the Riveter” in World War II. Her first husband Robert Shelden was killed in the war. After the war, she returned to Louisiana. She later received training as a Nurse at John Sealy Hospital in Galveston, Texas. She remarried in 1946. When she was not working, she was a devoted and loving mother. Her family came first in her life. She had so many interests. She took college courses and loved reading. She cared for and loved her many pets. She cared for her home in Spring, Texas which was very important to her. She loved decorating it. She was an avid gardener. She grew a vegetable garden and canned a lot of her food. She was a talented seamstress who made her own clothes and her children’s when they were young. After retiring from Methodist Hospital, she worked for a shop in “Old Town Spring” sewing and making dolls at her home. In her later years, she was confined to her home due to her failing health and dementia.
