Radene Fowler Christian

Radene was born January 10, 1942 in Corpus Christi, Texas to Ray and Frances Fowler. Her early childhood home was at Eagle Mountain Lake northwest of Ft. Worth, Texas where she attended Azle Elementary School. In junior high and high school years her family lived in Jacinto City, Texas where she attended Galena Park schools. Upon graduation in May 1960 she attended Weatherford Junior College as a freshman and completed college at the University of Houston in January 1964 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education. She taught first grade for two years in Galena Park schools immediately after college.

When Radene was seven years old, during the worldwide polio epidemic of the late 1940s, she was struck with the disease. She missed the second grade and after several surgeries and therapy over the following years she re-learned how to walk with the use of only a half crutch on one arm. From junior high on she lived her life with this physical limitation.

In ninth grade she met her husband-to-be, Dennis Christian, a fellow student at Galena Park Junior High. By 11th grade they were going steady and were married in August 1963. Her teaching career ended when she left with Dennis for his two year obligation in the U. S. Army following his four years of ROTC at Texas A&M. After military service they made their home in Houston, Texas, where they raised two children – Carolyn and Chris. They were members of First Baptist Church Jacinto City and then Champion Forest Baptist Church over the next thirty-one years.

In 1999, after Dennis’s retirement from Exxon, they moved to Cedar Creek Lake where they became members of First Baptist Church Gun Barrel City, Texas.

As a young girl Radene committed her life to Christ and experienced believers’ baptism in high school. Radene excelled in the Girls Auxiliary Program at church, attaining the level of Queen Regent in Service. Her senior year in high school she was voted Most Outstanding Christian Girl. The rest of her life was spent serving our Lord as teacher, mother, wife, daughter and mentor to friends and family. She had wit, charm, beauty inside and out, poise, and was loved by all who had the fortune to know her. She will be sorely missed by all!

She is survived by her husband, Dennis Christian of Mabank, Texas, daughter Carolyn Still and husband Todd, of Waco, Texas, son Chris Christian and wife Penney of Round Rock, Texas, grandsons Samuel Still and Andrew Still of Waco, Texas, grandson Campbell Christian of Round Rock, Texas, brother Rick Fowler and wife Shirley of Baytown, Texas, and numerous nieces, nephews, cousins, and other extended family. She was preceded in death by mother Frances Fowler, father Raymond Fowler, and brother Jim Fowler.