Theo Ellen Houston

is honored with a Brick from Judith Avers.

We celebrate the life of our mother, Theo Ellen Houston. Mother was born October 26, 1914, in Hutchinson, Kansas to Verna Sue and Earl King Her parents were young and World War I intervened into their lives. In 1916, her mother, now divorced arranged for foster care and finally the adoption of her child to the Roy C. Grider family of Hutchinson, Kansas. A difficult childhood followed in an unhappy and later broken home.

At 17, mother fell in love and married John Kenneth Houston of Hutchinson. For many years a full and happy life as a military wife and mother of three followed. In 1954 this life fell apart with the death of Kenneth.

A lifetime desire for education and a need of financial support to raise her young family, led mother to obtain her G.E.D. and attend Hutchinson Junior College. However, the pressure of school, work, and finances stopped her from continuing towards a four-year degree. She then entered and completed a program study as a cosmologist. Mother supported and influenced her family with her hard work, and always stressed education as a key to personal satisfaction and independence.

April 14, 1970 we lost mother to breast cancer. For five years she had fought this disease as bravely and independently as she had faced every other obstacle in her life. Without complaints or regrets she always moved forward.

All three of her children have earned college degrees and credit mother with the standard she set. It is appropriate that her name and life be honored as our heroine. Now her name is permanently installed in the "Halls of Ivy."

Submitted with love by her children Judith, John, and Kenneth

September 5, 1998