Winnie Catherine Hawkins, 93
Winnie Catherine Hawkins, 93, originally Winnie Champion, left us on April 22, 2010.
She is survived by two children, David G. Hawkins and Carolyn Nuckols and husband, Mike; two grandchildren, Chris Nuckols and Robin Wallner and husband Dave; and four great-children, Christopher, Cameron, Caleb, and Dylan. She outlived all but two of her nine siblings; her brother, Bill Champion and sister, Marie Davis.
She was born on the family farm in Williamson County, Texas on Jan. 17, 1917. She lived through the Great Depression and married David C. Hawkins shortly before he left to serve in World War II.
After the war, she and Hawk (as David was commonly known) contributed two children to the Baby Boomer generation while living near the small central Texas farming community of Andice. They later moved to Georgetown, then Killeen.
When Hawk retired from civil service at Fort Hood, they built a house together in Bruceville-Eddy; and then moved back to the Andice area, where they built another home together.
When Hawk passed in 1993, Winnie continued to live in the home they had built after getting her driver’s license at age 76 so she could continue living the country life. When she became too frail to live alone, she moved to a small house of her own on the property of Carolyn and Mike in northern Idaho, near Priest River.
A lifelong Texan and proud of it, the move to 60 miles south of Canada was a bit of a shock. She missed the long growing season and wildflowers of central Texas.
Winnie loved gardening and was blessed with a green thumb. Faced with the cold Idaho winters, she turned from the garden to reading and constantly working on crossword puzzles, keeping her mind sharp. And sharp it was.
The sweet lady who charmed and amused so many strangers was a force to be reckoned with if her daughter wanted to clean Winnie’s house. She may have been too frail to do it herself, but she was too fiercely independent to like anybody else doing it for her. She did so love her independence.
In summers, she enjoyed going RVing and fishing with Mike and Carolyn, overcoming her lifelong fear of water — just put her in a lifejacket and she was game. However, she did not understand the “release” in catch and release fishing; she wanted to eat them all.
She was a lifelong member of the Andice Baptist Church in Texas, and attended Valley Baptist Church while in Idaho.
The woman known as the “Hat Lady” at her church in Andice did find some new pleasures in Idaho. She loved her daughter’s dogs (and sneaking food to them under the kitchen table) and the wild turkeys which gathered in the yard. She loved root beer floats, and yes, McDonald’s, the only fast food within 20 miles of her rural home.
Winnie exemplied the model for a wife and mother of her times. She was a stay-at-home mom and enjoyed it. A harsh word was never heard between her and Hawk, her husband of 50 years and the only love of her life.
Told of the cancer that would mean the end, she told the doctor, “Well, I don’t want that,” as if it were multiple choice. That was Winnie.
If there is a field of bluebonnets in the afterlife, look for her there.
Funeral services will be conducted at the Andice Baptist Church in Andice, Texas.
Family and friends are invited to sign Winnie’s online guest book at www.coffeltfuneral.com.
Arrangements are entrusted to the care of Coffelt Funeral Service of Sandpoint.