1926
Anita
2013
Anita Lucille Walsh
September 21, 1926 — December 18, 2013
Anita Lucille Walsh, 87, died December 18, 2013 in Amarillo.
Funeral services will be Friday, December 20, 2013 at 4:00 pm in Brentwood Chapel at Schooler Funeral Home. She will be buried beside her parents and brother at Dreamland Cemetery in Canyon at a later date. Arrangements are by Schooler Funeral Home, 4100 S. Georgia.
Anita Walsh was born Anita Lucille Davis on September 21, 1926 to Canyon pioneers Roscoe B. Davis and Emma Lucille Watts Davis. She attended school in Canyon, graduating from Canyon High School in 1943, winning an American Legion Scholarship in the process. From 1943-1945 she attended West Texas State College and during that time was also part of a musical variety show entertaining the troops at all the military installations in northern Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Kansas. In 1945 she took the big step of going alone to far away Indiana University and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music, English, and History in 1947. This started her love for piano, and she followed this love her entire life.
She began her career in education shortly thereafter in Portales, New Mexico. In 1950 she married her high school friend, Andrew Lee Walsh, Jr. She continued to teach in Houston and Kansas City while he attended medical school at Baylor College of Medicine and then interned in Kansas City. In 1953, their first child was born, Andrew Lee Walsh, III, and she traded her teaching career for being a mother and homemaker. Her daughter, Ann Lucille Walsh, was born soon after in 1956. In 1965 her marriage ended and she moved with her two children to Amarillo. There she resumed her teaching career at David Crockett Middle School, eventually staying 26 years until her retirement in 1991. She taught generations of 7th grade students Texas History and was awarded the Crockett Teacher of the Year in 1991.
Anita joined Westminster Presbyterian Church shortly after moving to Amarillo. At Westminster, she served as church organist for 11 years, was a member of the Tuesday Morning Women’s Bible Study, and until recently, was a member of the Bivins Mission Team, playing the piano for worship services at Bivins Nursing Home.
She was a member of the Amarillo Retired Teachers Association and the Texas Retired Teachers Association.
Anita was preceded in death by her parents and by her daughter Ann who died September 4, 2010.
She is survived by her son, Drew Walsh of San Antonio, his wife Sherryl, and their children Ian, Erin, and Mackenzie. She is survived also by her son-in-law, Mark Walsh, and his children Robert and Becca.
Anita requests that in lieu of flowers, memorials be sent to Westminster Presbyterian Church, 2525 Wimberly, Amarillo, TX 79109; the Presbyterian Home for Children, 3400 S. Bowie, Amarillo, TX 79109; or to BSA Hospice c/o Harrington Cancer Foundation, 1600 Wallace Boulevard, Amarillo, TX 79106.
Funeral services will be Friday, December 20, 2013 at 4:00 pm in Brentwood Chapel at Schooler Funeral Home. She will be buried beside her parents and brother at Dreamland Cemetery in Canyon at a later date. Arrangements are by Schooler Funeral Home, 4100 S. Georgia.
Anita Walsh was born Anita Lucille Davis on September 21, 1926 to Canyon pioneers Roscoe B. Davis and Emma Lucille Watts Davis. She attended school in Canyon, graduating from Canyon High School in 1943, winning an American Legion Scholarship in the process. From 1943-1945 she attended West Texas State College and during that time was also part of a musical variety show entertaining the troops at all the military installations in northern Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Kansas. In 1945 she took the big step of going alone to far away Indiana University and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music, English, and History in 1947. This started her love for piano, and she followed this love her entire life.
She began her career in education shortly thereafter in Portales, New Mexico. In 1950 she married her high school friend, Andrew Lee Walsh, Jr. She continued to teach in Houston and Kansas City while he attended medical school at Baylor College of Medicine and then interned in Kansas City. In 1953, their first child was born, Andrew Lee Walsh, III, and she traded her teaching career for being a mother and homemaker. Her daughter, Ann Lucille Walsh, was born soon after in 1956. In 1965 her marriage ended and she moved with her two children to Amarillo. There she resumed her teaching career at David Crockett Middle School, eventually staying 26 years until her retirement in 1991. She taught generations of 7th grade students Texas History and was awarded the Crockett Teacher of the Year in 1991.
Anita joined Westminster Presbyterian Church shortly after moving to Amarillo. At Westminster, she served as church organist for 11 years, was a member of the Tuesday Morning Women’s Bible Study, and until recently, was a member of the Bivins Mission Team, playing the piano for worship services at Bivins Nursing Home.
She was a member of the Amarillo Retired Teachers Association and the Texas Retired Teachers Association.
Anita was preceded in death by her parents and by her daughter Ann who died September 4, 2010.
She is survived by her son, Drew Walsh of San Antonio, his wife Sherryl, and their children Ian, Erin, and Mackenzie. She is survived also by her son-in-law, Mark Walsh, and his children Robert and Becca.
Anita requests that in lieu of flowers, memorials be sent to Westminster Presbyterian Church, 2525 Wimberly, Amarillo, TX 79109; the Presbyterian Home for Children, 3400 S. Bowie, Amarillo, TX 79109; or to BSA Hospice c/o Harrington Cancer Foundation, 1600 Wallace Boulevard, Amarillo, TX 79106.
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