Christina Steward

Christina Steward 

 May 9, 1956 - February 28, 2025

Christina died in my arms at St. David's Medical Center in Austin, Texas, after an existence of unimaginable suffering. Taken by ambulance, she was admitted to the ICU and placed on a respirator. The nurses in the ICU were phenomenal as were the nurses on the fifth floor, especially Sarah and Dr. Sathi, the physician entrusted with her care. My gratitude will be forever and always for everyone on the staff who ministered to her. In the last hours, Compassus Hospice, with loving hands, helped me release her from pain into the light.

Christina, "Tina" is preceded in death by her beloved nephew, Whit Cammack, her parents, James Willard Steward and Dr. Mary Booth Steward, her uncle and aunt, Jack and Argie Collins, her uncle and aunt, Dr. James Booth and Dr. Dorothy Booth, her uncle and aunt, Dr. Earnest Booth and Gloria Booth, her grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Peter Dimitri Booth and Mabel Wylie Steward, her great-grandparents, J.J. Wylie and Mary Varina Wylie, who donated the land to build a school and for which the city of Wylie is named.

She leaves behind her aunt, Helen Andrews and a multitude of cousins from the Booth, Vletas, Andrews, Collins, Aldred, Herbanek, Daniels, Dillard, Mashburn and Peters families. Additionally, she leaves her friend, the ever dependable David, her earth angel, Barb, who drove ten hours to honor her, her lifelong advocate and friend, Kim, and me, her sister, Cal, the name given to me when she was a toddler.

Beginning Saturday, March 22, 2025,  at 10:30 am from The Hamil Family Funeral Home, 6449 Buffalo Gap Rd., there will be a procession to the Abilene Municipal Cemetery, where the interment will be conducted at 11:00 am. A service will later be held at the Church of the Heavenly Rest at 1:00 p.m. with the Reverend David Romanik, officiating. A reception will follow in Gerhart Hall.

Memorials to Christina can be made to the St. David's School of Nursing, Texas State University through the St. David's Foundation, 1303 San Antonio St. Suite 500, Austin, TX 78701.

I will always remember Tina's infectious laugh, her endearing sense of humor and the numerous life lessons that she taught me. Her misfortune instilled in me, the extraordinary empathy that I have for the most vulnerable in our society. I learned to be aware of those around me that were in need and to act upon it. I endeavored to be a better person, though my shortcomings are many. I longed to affect change and tried my very best to leave a road sign for others to follow with her in mind. I learned to choose compassion over indifference. I had called to check on her days before the end and I could hear her crying out for her mother and her Uncle Earnest. I thought about Christina every day of my life, mourning the fact that she would never play baseball, ride a bike, be a cheerleader, go shopping, go to Harvard, be a bride, honeymoon in Spain, bear children, drive a car, go to Paris, hike in the mountains, bake a cake, have her nails done and her hair coiffed, learn to needlepoint, see the ocean, go to yoga and plant a garden---the activities and pursuits which we all enjoy in our daily lives. She was denied a normal healthy life for which I immensely grieve. Yet, now she has been made true and whole, the bright shining celestial being that she was meant to be and released from the sorrow, evil and chaos which pours down upon the earth. There in the graceful folds of His mantle, she finds solace. Christina has been transformed into the brilliant beauty of a monarch drifting from flower to flower to flower, the crystal waters of the Blue Lagoon and the dazzling light of a full moon shining on the earth so intensely that you can see your daydreams. She rises from the vivid color of peacocks filling the universe with the bluest of blue, turquoise skies. She glides on rainbows after a delicate rain on pastures replete with grazing lambs. The glow from her eyes is the lantern from which we find our way home. Her spirit swirls and twirls through twittering golden aspens. She is encompassed by dancing beams of light, frolicking between delicate stamens of stargazer lilies. When gazing heavenward, you will see the radiant, gleaming smile on her face. She is free.

I love you.