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Wilma Fay Bourland Lawson was born on March 11th, 1928 in San Antonio, Texas. She was the youngest of William Frank Bourland (1876) and Lutie May (Smith) Bourland (1888) – “the baby out of 10” as she was fond of saying. Of the 9 children that made it to adulthood, there were 7 girls and twin boys. The family started off in Mississippi but moved to San Antonio around 1922. Fay grew up on Santa Monica Street in what was known as Los Angeles Heights. At age 13 her father, a Missouri Pacific railroad employee, was tragically killed at a RR crossing when a train hit a truck and the truck hit him. Faye attended Edison High School where she was an outstanding scholar, cheerleader and singer. While in high school she was a USO singer at local sites. She volunteered to sing to soldiers at Wilford Hall Medical Center and it was during one of these visits that she met a farm boy named Lyle Berkley Lawson of Des Moines, Iowa. He was serving in the US Army Air Corps during WWII. Lyle and Faye married on June 23rd, 1946 at St. Luke’s Lutheran church in San Antonio. Faye agreed to move to Des Moines but, after one winter there, legend has it that she told Lyle: I’m going back to Texas with or without you. After returning to Texas, Lyle continued his new career with the US Postal Service. Faye attended business school and worked several bookkeeping jobs throughout her career. Their first child, Fabienne Elizabeth, was born on February 20th, 1950. Fabienne was only with them six short, sweet years. She was diagnosed with a hole in her heart which was untreatable at that time. Faye used to say that if her first child had been her last child she would still be alive today. Cynthia Louise (1954), Luther Berkeley (1958) and Julia Mae (1961) helped to ease a heartache that never fully mended. The children grew up on Greenlawn Drive near Interstate 10 and Vance Jackson. Outside of her bookkeeping jobs, Faye enjoyed raising dogs and cats in order to bring in a little extra income. She raised Siamese, Himalayan cats and Poodle, Dachshund, Schipperke, and American Eskimo dogs. Lyle retired from the USPS in 1981 and in 1983 he and Faye moved to their retirement dream home on 2.5 acres near Canyon Lake. Faye continued to work as the bookkeeper for a dentist in downtown San Antonio and she and Lyle made the long commute five days a week for many years. After she retired, they spent their time traveling, gardening and hosting friends and family at their home in the Texas Hill Country. Faye always seemed to have a song in her heart and often on her lips. She loved to tell her children and grandchildren (and anyone she met anywhere): “You know they wrote a song about that” and she would break into song. Faye has seven grandchildren – six grandsons and one granddaughter. She has six great grandchildren so far – five more boys and one more princess. Looks like God has turned the tables on the gender ratio. PS – She added that “E” to the end of her name while she was in high school – legally it’s Fay. And please don’t call her Wilma. Faye is preceded in death by her husband of 67 years, Lyle Lawson. She is survived by her daughters, Cindy Stanford, Julie Waechter and husband Brian; son, Luther Lawson and wife Linda; grandchildren, Jon Stanford, Steven Stanford, Jeanette Stanford, Benjamin Lawson, Jonathan Lawson, Samuel Lawson, Joshua Waechter; great grandchildren, Isaac, Alex, Greyson, Urijah, Judah and Naijah.

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Wilma Fay Lawson

March 11, 1928 - January 31, 2023