Laura Fay Thaxton

Laura Fay McBeth Thaxton, 89, of Abilene, TX, went peacefully to be with her Lord and Savior on December 5, 2019, in Abilene, Texas.

Pioneer Drive Baptist Church will host a lunch for the family on December 11, 2019, followed by interment at Elmwood Memorial Park, 5750 Hwy. 277 South, Abilene, at 1:30 p.m.

Visitation will be held December 10, 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at The Hamil Family Funeral Home, 6449 Buffalo Gap Rd, Abilene, TX. A memorial service will be held December 11, 3 p.m. at Pioneer Drive Baptist Church, 701 S. Pioneer Drive. Officiating are Stan Allcorn and Jeff Reid, pastors of Pioneer Drive Baptist Church.

Laura was born in Sherman, Texas, July 21, 1930, to Lillie May Carpenter McBeth and Joseph Phinis McBeth. She is the oldest of their three children. As the daughter of a Baptist pastor, she lived in a number of Texas cities including Ropesville, Sherman, Dumas, Anson, and Sweetwater. She enjoyed playing flute in the junior high and high school bands, but later confessed that, because they moved so much, she never really learned to play it and often faked her way through the music.

After graduating high school in Sweetwater, she enrolled in Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Texas. There, she was a member of the Cowgirl Band for four years and pledged the Cowgirls Organization her sophomore year. She met many life-long friends and stayed active with the Cowgirls until just a few weeks ago. 

During her sophomore year at HSU she met Warren G. Thaxton. They dated while he was in the Air Force and she was teaching in Panhandle, Texas. On June 9, 1952, they married in Irving, Texas, with her father officiating. They eventually settled in Abilene, Texas, where she was a first grade teacher at Central Elementary School, and a counselor at Dyess and Alta Vista elementary schools for many years. Laura and Warren were blessed with three children: Tamara, Eric, and Kirk.

Laura enjoyed writing and was a member of the Abilene Writer’s Guild. She published a book on the history of the McBeth family and authored an award-winning article on the history of Dyess Elementary School. She was also a long-time member of Pioneer Drive Baptist Church.

Laura was preceded in death by her loving husband of 61 years, her daughter Tamara, her brother Francis McBeth, and her parents. She is survived by her brother, Harold McBeth and wife Dee (California); sister-in-law, Mary McBeth (Arkansas); son Eric and wife Janlyn (Abilene); son Kirk and wife Kristi (Abilene); grandchildren Matthew Thaxton and wife Akane (Abilene), Kyle Thaxton (Abilene), Hayley Thaxton-Hughes and husband Steve (England), Kaitlin Thaxton Turner and husband Brad (Abilene), Joshua Thaxton (Austin); great-grandson Ryusuke Thaxton (Abilene); and many nieces, nephews, and cousins. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Tamara Thaxton Memorial Scholarship at Abilene Christian University (P.O. Box 29132, Abilene, TX 79699); or to the Warren Thaxton Trombone Scholarship or Ex-Cowgirls Scholarship at Hardin Simmons University (P.O. Box 16100, Abilene, TX 79698).  

The family would like to express great appreciation and gratitude for the loving care that Laura received from Hospice of the Big Country and Dr. George Dawson, Mesa Springs Health Care Center, Wesley Court Senior Living, and numerous doctors and nurses at Hendrick Medical Center and Abilene Regional Medical Center.