After her parents passing, she moved to Delaware at age 12 and was raised by her older sister Rose and her husband Virgil. She finished high school at William Penn. While attending high school, she sang in the A-Ca-Pella Choir, Girls Glee Club, and All State Choir.
After graduation, she worked as a secretary until age 19 when she married John Courtney and moved to Norfolk, Virginia. They moved to Delaware after six years and had a daughter, Terri Lynn. During this time, she volunteered at Mother’s Day Out and Bible School. Sadly Terri Lynn passed away in 1973, which is also the year she had her son, John Courtney, Jr. In 1974, she gave birth to her second daughter, Kristi Lee.
In 1981, the family relocated to Houston, Texas. She attended San Jacinto College for cosmetology in 1987. She would work at various salons over the years including J. C. Penney until retiring from doing hair in 2004. She then worked at Space Center Houston until retiring in 2016 at age 77.
She became a grandmother in 1994 with the birth of Kylie Sivley and again in 2000 with the birth of Karah Sivley. They were both the “apple of her eye”.
Arline was devoted and deeply involved with her church, First Baptist of Pasadena, where she made numerous friends and was loved deeply.
She is survived by her son, John Courtney, Jr. and his fiancé, Lisa Lohmann; daughter, Kristi Courtney-Sivley; granddaughters, Kylie and Karah Sivley, and her sister, Janet Hart.
She is preceded in death by her daughter, Terri Lynn Courtney.
The family will receive friends from 5:00pm to 7:00pm on Sunday, October 21, 2018 at Forest Park East Funeral Home, 21620 Gulf Freeway, Webster, Texas 77598. Services will be held at Forest Park East Funeral Home at 10:30am on Monday, October 22, 2018. Interment will follow service in Forest Park East Cemetery.
SHARE OBITUARY
v.1.8.18