A Wilson Family Tree
Notes for Juanita Faye Rushing
Amarillo Globe-News, 21 Oct 2007 (obtained from Find A Grave, listing for Juanita Faye "Nita" Rushing Brownlee):
DENTON - Juanita Faye Rushing Brownlee, 90, formerly of Perryton, died Thursday, Oct. 18, 2007, in Fort Worth.
Services will be at 10 a.m. Tuesday in First Christian Church of Perryton. Graveside services will be in Ochiltree Cemetery by Boxwell Brothers Funeral Home of Perryton.
"Nita" was born Feb. 1, 1917, in Center to Marvin Charles and Mary Alma Harrison Rushing. She was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree with a double major in home economics and earth sciences and a minor in social sciences in May 1943 by Southwest Texas State Teachers College in San Marcos. Her first teaching job was on a remotely located ranch near Victoria, holding school for the rancher's two children. She then taught in a one-room rural schoolhouse near Mansfield. She married Jesse Edwin Brownlee Jr. of Santa Fe, N.M., at her mother's home in Austin on April 5, 1945. They lived in Muskogee, Okla., for a short time until Mr. Brownlee, a flight instructor, was discharged from the Army Air Corps during the summer of 1945. While in Muskogee, Juanita and Jessee acquired an Army surplus Tailorcraft airplane. They reskinned the aircraft to civilian specifications and subsequently flew it for business and pleasure for many years. They lived in Santa Fe until 1946, when they moved to the ranch in Ochiltree County. Mrs. Brownlee had a permanent, all-level teaching certificate and taught in the Perryton Independent School District for many years. She was active in community affairs and lived in Perryton for several decades, being a member of Nolta Home Demonstration Club, Eastern Star, Delta Kappa Gamma and founder of the Perryton Widowed Persons group, after her husband's death in September 1992. She was a swimming instructor at the "Y" in Perryton, specializing in teaching infants to swim and qualified several times during her life as a Red Cross Lifesaver, the last time in her 70s. She received her Clowning Certificate from Tarrant County College on Oct. 17, 1989, becoming Katybelle the clown, and subsequently used her skills to entertain children, doing safety programs, drug education programs and reading programs. She did magic tricks, balloon releases, told stories and jokes and made certain every child received their own balloon. Mrs. Brownlee also entertained at her assisted living residence in Denton whenever asked. Her last engagement as Katybelle was at the First Year Anniversary Celebration at Dogwood Estates where she resided since moving to Denton in 2005. She also founded a chapter of the Red Hat Society at Dogwood and served as their queen.
She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband; two brothers, James Rushing and M.C. Rushing; two sisters, Maggie Jim Caffey and Lucille Brady; and a son-in-law, James Wesley Jordan.
Survivors include a daughter, Mary Zaffrin Brownlee Jordan of Fort Worth and her two sons, Jesse Tarkington Jordan and Jeremy Wesley Jordan, both of Fort Worth, Elizabeth Carolyn "Betsy" Brownlee of Ochiltree County and Arlington and her son-in-law, Gary Wayne Edge of Mesquite; a son, Jesse Edwin "Ed" Brownlee III and wife Cynthia of Denton and their children, William Wildman Brownlee, Mary Elizabeth Brownlee, Jesse Edwin "Sunny" Brownlee IV, all of Denton, and Mary Wagner of Perryton and Jesse Edwin's nephew Fletcher Tarkington Cook and wife June of Perryton and their children, Walter Neal Cook of Tampa, Fla., Debra Lynn Cook of Perryton and Mary Nan Cook of Spearman.
Note: Some of the information in these pages is uncertain. Please let me know of errors or omissions using the email link above. ...Mike Wilson
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