Garnet Elizabeth Weaver

Garnet Elizabeth (Newton) Weaver Garnet Elizabeth (Newton) Weaver, 93, of Abilene, Texas passed away March 3, 2014. Visitation with family will be 5-7 p.m. Thursday, March 6 at Wesley Court Retirement Community. Burial will be 12 noon, Friday, March 7 at Texas State Veterans Cemetery at Abilene, followed by a Memorial Service at 2 p.m. at Wesley Court Retirement Community. Arrangements are under the direction of The Hamil Family Funeral Home, 6449 Buffalo Gap Road, Abilene. Garnet was born May 6, 1920 near Mansfield in Wright County, Missouri to Frank Ellis and Bertha May (Rosevear) Newton. She grew up on the family farm participating in farming activities including milking cows beginning at age five. She accepted Christ as her personal Savior and was baptized in the Gasconade River at age thirteen. As a teenager, she played the pump organ and piano at Mission Temple Church. Before leaving for college she graduated from High Point Elementary and Mansfield High. While attending Southwest Baptist College in Bolivar, Missouri, she met and married her husband, G. Norman Weaver. Garnet and Norman celebrated seventy years of marriage in 2013 with a Caribbean Cruise. Garnet earned degrees from Southwest Baptist University (College), Bolivar, Missouri; Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas; and Hardin-Simmons University, Abilene, Texas. She and her husband, Norman, visited more than 30 countries and served in volunteer mission ministries in six countries on five continents, including ten months in Ghana, West Africa; Thailand; Indonesia; Australia; Brazil; and Mexico. They were awarded “Missionary Emeritus” status by the Southern Baptist Convention Mission Board in 1987. Garnet was active in leadership positions at First Baptist Church, Abilene for many years, including Training Union, Children’s Choirs, and Adult Classes. She was active in the Senior Adult Choir and Hand Bell Choir. Most recently she was a member at Wylie Baptist Church. With a passion for education, Garnet began her teaching career in one-room schools in Missouri, and taught fourth-grade and kindergarten in the Abilene Independent School District from 1966-1987. She also taught ESL in Ghana Baptist Seminary, and in the adult literacy program of First Baptist Church, Abilene. Garnet was a member of Delta Kappa Gamma International, Hardin-Simmons University Round Table, Woman’s Missionary Union, Abilene Adult Literacy Council, National Fellowship of Baptist Educators, Southwestern Baptist Religious Education Association, Southern Baptist Religious Education Association, National Education Association, Texas Education Association, Abilene Classroom Teachers Association, Abilene Zoological Society, Big Country Audubon Society, and Diabetic Support Group. She served as presiding officer and clerk for many precinct elections. She and Norman were among the first to host Neighborhood Crime Watch programs through the Abilene Police Department, and continued to do so until their move to Wesley Court Retirement Community in 2005. Garnet was the proud mother of three children: Ann Elizabeth Kronk (husband Philip) of Knoxville, TN, Marcia Sue Wood (husband Phillip) of Dallas, TX, and David Norman Weaver (wife Lu Anne) of Georgetown, TX; grandmother of six: Timothy Wood (wife Robin), Katherine Kronk, James Weaver, Sarah Wood, Kyle Weaver, Melody Weaver; and great-grandmother of Owen and Penelope Wood. She was preceded in death by her parents; one sister, Janet Euphrates (Newton) McGary; and her husband G. Norman Weaver. Memorials may be given to Wylie Baptist Church, 6097 Buffalo Gap Rd., Abilene, TX 79606, or a charity of choice.