Vivian Muston

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices in the truth. Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. I Corinthians 13: 1-8A This is the testimony of the exceptional life of Vivian Forrest Muston; a loving daughter, sister, a devoted wife and beloved step-mother. Vivian was born May 20, 1919 to Perry and Belle King Forrest in Taylor County, Texas and left us to rejoice in the Lord's presence on January 20, 2007at age 87. She grew up on the family farm west of Abilene Lake among the rolling red hills of the Elm Valley Community. There she began a life long affinity for gardening, growing vegetables for consumption and canning. She later cultivated many varieties of iris, delighting in bouquets of fragrant flowers in her home and gifting others with their beauty. After graduating from Tuscola High School in 1938, Vivian and two other adventurous young friends from Elm Valley worked for the Southern Aircraft Corporation in Garland, Texas during war time, assembling propellers for the airplanes of the military. Upon returning to Abilene, she entered Gail Business College completing her studies before going to work for Ben E. Keith Company as a bookkeeper, a position she held for thirty years before her retirement. While working at Ben E. Keith Company, she met and married widowed Carl Muston on July 15, 1956, merging the two families with joy and enthusiasm; she was always in the forefront celebrating birthdays, marriages, births, and especially abundant feasts at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Generous and loving, forever patient and kind, she was the embodiment of her Lord's sweet spirit. She was a fifty-one year member of First Baptist Church. When she was on the farm on Sundays, she worshiped at the Elm Valley Baptist Church. She is preceded in death by her husband of thirty-three years, Carl Price Muston, her parents, four brothers: Elbert Forrest and Ira Forrest of Elm Valley, and Lewis Forrest of Abilene and Lester Forrest of Hamilton, Texas; three sisters: Otherene Forrest Young, Ila Mae Forrest McCollum and Hazel Forrest. Vivian is survived by a brother, Wayne Forrest and his wife Nita of Hawley, Texas and one sister Audene Forrest Doran of Benton, Arkansas, a sister-in-law, Mrs. Lester Forrest (Jean) of Hamilton, Texas; step-daughters, Patty Muston Bowdoin and her husband Mack and Peggy Muston Sturrock and her husband Jim, all of Abilene; two grandchildren, William Bowdoin of Phoenix, Arizona and Elisabeth Bowdoin Land and her husband Craig of Midland, Texas; three great-grandchildren, Rebecca Land Morales and husband Carlos and James Land of Midland, Texas, William Clark Bowdoin of North Carolina; two great-great granddaughters, Hailey and Bailey Morales of Midland, Texas; and numerous loving nieces nephews. Philip Ammons, Darrel Forrest, Douglas Forrest, Phil Forrest, Carroll Forrest and Billy Don Willis will serve as pallbearers. The family will receive friends during a visitation on Tuesday, January 23, 2007 from 5:00 to 7:00 at The Hamil Family Funeral Home, 6449 Buffalo Gap Road. Funeral services will be on Wednesday at 11:00 am in the Chapel of First Baptist Church. Burial will be at 1:30 Wednesday in the Buffalo Gap Cemetery. Memorials may be made in honor of Vivian Muston to the West Texas Rehab Center, 4601 Hartford Street, Abilene, Texas 79605 or to the donor's favorite charity.