Louise Echols

Louise Kidd Key Echols, the beloved “matriarch” of the Echols’ family, departed December 9, 2012 to be with the Lord. Visitation is scheduled from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, December 11, at the Stewart Family Funeral Home. The funeral will be held at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, December 12, at Pollard Methodist Church where Louise was a member. The burial will be held at Rose Hill Cemetery under the direction of Stewart Family Funeral Home. Louise was a treasure to her family as well as being a blessing and a joy to all who knew her. A true native of Tyler in every sense, Louise was born November 3, 1924 in a home on East Front Street and grew up in the bustling East Tyler neighborhood. Louise was graduated from Tyler High School in 1941 and continued her education at Tyler Commercial College where she acquired secretarial skills. Louise greatly enjoyed people, and employment as a professional secretary offered her many opportunities. She worked at Texas, Power and Light, Citizens’ Bank, Caton Insurance Company, Arcadia and Rudman Oil Companies, and Henry and Peters. Many former students remember her as the secretary to Apache Belle Director Eva Saunders and Dr. Edwin Fowler, or as a secretary in the Student Financial Aid Office at the University of Texas at Tyler. Louise met her husband, Dan Echols, when they were in high school. They became engaged while Dan was a Marine in the South Pacific during W.W.II. Their war time romance was chronicled by many letters and followed by their marriage which spanned fifty-eight remarkable years. Louise is survived by her two sons, Jim and his wife, Sherrill, of Tyler, and Russell and his wife, Nancy, of Irving; and grandchildren, Kimberly Graft of Dallas, Jimmy Echols of Richmond, Aaron Echols of Great Falls, Montana, Alisha Longa of Ogden, Utah, and Allon Echols of Ogden, Utah. She is also survived by five great grandchildren, several nieces and nephews as well as many special friends. Louise was preceded in death by her parents, Josie Kidd and W.H. Key, husband, and sisters, Josephine McFarland and Evelyn Key, and infant brother, W.H. Key, Jr. Pallbears will be Jimmy Echols, Aaron Echols, Allon Echols, Aaron Graft, Keith Freeman, Randy Austin, Rodney Smith and John Evans. Memorials in honor of Louise Echols may be given to Pollard Methodist Church at 3030 Copeland Road, Tyler 75701 or the St. Paul’s Children’s Clinic, 1350 E. Richards Street, Tyler 75702.

Louise Echols

November 3, 1924 - December 9, 2012