Eva Mable Goolsby

HUGHES SPRINGS — Eva Mable Goolsby, 90, of Auburn, Alabama, died July 28, 2011.

Family and friends are invited to gather for visitation from 6-8 p.m. today, August 5, 2011, at Reeder-Davis Funeral Home in Hughes Springs, Texas. Following interment at 10 a.m. on Saturday in the Avinger Cemetery in Avinger, Texas, a memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. at the adjacent Avinger United Methodist Church. A reception will follow in the Fellowship Hall.

Mable, the youngest of six children, was born January 17, 1921, in Avinger, Texas, to Tobasco F. and Harriett Elizabeth Holland Steed. She grew up in Avinger and graduated from Avinger High School as valedictorian of the class of 1938. After attending the College of Marshall (now East Texas Baptist University) to study business and accounting, she worked for many years as a bookkeeper and property manager.

On August 3, 1946, she married George Bryan ("G.B.") Goolsby, of nearby Hughes Springs, Texas. G.B. had returned home following three years of service in World War II and was working in the lumber business in East Texas and Fort Worth, Texas. After their marriage, the couple lived in Fort Worth until moving to Midland, Texas, in 1948 to establish a lumber business in the fast-growing Permian Basin area. From 1948 until G.B. died in 1971, he managed the lumber company and Mable handled the bookkeeping.

While in Midland, they raised three children and were very active in the First United Methodist Church. They spent their Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays in East Texas with relatives, and often vacationed in California. Mable and G.B. were both avid sports fans, and sitting in the upper deck of Dodger Stadium to see Koufax or Drysdale pitch or attending Texas Longhorn football games were special events for the entire family.

When G.B. died in 1971, Mable had one son in college and two children at home. By continuing her property management work and carefully handling the family finances, she saw all three children through college, two becoming lawyers and one becoming a campus minister. Working with Meals on Wheels was her favorite charitable activity.

Well into her 80s and after more than 50 years in Midland, Mable pulled up stakes and went to Auburn, Alabama, to stay with family. In Auburn, she became a full-time grandmother and enjoyed attending the various school, church, and sporting activities of her Auburn grandsons while continuing to be involved with her Texas grandsons. In support of the Auburn Wesley Foundation, each year for several years she knitted hundreds of pairs of potholders that were sent as tokens of appreciation to those who made donations to the campus ministry. A member of First United Methodist Church in Midland for more than 50 years, she was a member of Auburn United Methodist Church at the time of her death.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, three sisters and one brother.

She is survived by her sister, Marie Steed of Lufkin, Texas; her son, George Goolsby and his wife, Cathy Goolsby, of Houston, Texas; her son, David Goolsby and his wife, Sarah Goolsby, of Auburn, Alabama; her daughter, Barbara Bauernfeind and her husband, the Rev. Paul Bauernfeind, of Amarillo, Texas; and her grandsons, Wyatt Goolsby of Dallas, Texas, Bryan Goolsby of Atlanta, Georgia, Ward Goolsby of Houston, Texas, and Benjamin Goolsby of Auburn, Alabama. She is also survived by many nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews.

Mable was a dedicated, loving and supportive mother and grandmother. She was a devout Christian, who raised her family as she had been raised: to be believers and servants in their church and community endeavors. Her family is grateful for her many years of love, for her unwavering support, for all of the fun times together and for her long, faithful and rewarding life.

For those wishing to do so, donations in memory of Mable may be made to the Auburn Wesley Foundation, 131 South Gay Street, P.O. Box 3488, Auburn, AL 36831-3488; or to the Methodist Children's Home, 1111 Herring Avenue, Waco, TX 76708.
Arrangements are by Jeff­coat-Trant Funeral Home & Crematory.

Online condolences may be made at www.jeffcoattrant.com

Published in Longview News-Journal on August 5, 2011