SUE TRAMMELL WHITFIELD
1933-2020
Sue Trammell Whitfield went to be with her Lord on Tuesday, the 18th of February 2020, at the age of 86.
She was born on the 5th of August 1933, in Houston, Texas, one of four children and the only daughter born to Susie Ella Fondren ”Sweetie” & Wash Bryan “Tex” Trammell.
Sue was a 5th generation Texan who loved her family heritage and she spent many years researching the generations that preceded her. Sophie Wyers Bryan, her paternal great-great grandmother, was born in 1837 on land, which her pioneering parents cleared near an abandoned Comanche Village in the Republic of Texas, later to become Waco, Texas. Robert & Harriet Ship Wyers had 14 children all on the same farm, however, political upheavals were so frequent that their first child was born a citizen of Mexico. Their next six children were born citizens of the Republic of Texas, and seven youngest were born citizens of the United States. The later generations moved near Abilene and eventually to Houston where they engaged in ranching and business endeavors.
Sue loved growing up in Houston surrounded by her extended family. She attended The Kinkaid School where she made lifelong friends.
She graduated from Kinkaid at the age of sixteen in the class of 1950. Sue went on to attend Southern Methodist University for two years and transferred to The University of Texas at Austin where she graduated in May of 1954. As an active member of her Pi Beta Phi Sorority, Sue always remembered that it was at the Pi Phi house at UT where she met her future husband, William Franklin Whitfield, while he visited friends who transferred from West Point. Later, when Bill was stationed at Ellington Air Force Base outside of Houston,
Sue asked him to be one of her escorts during her debut season. Love was in the air and the couple were married on May 29,1954.
In the early years of their marriage, the newly wedded couple lived in Salina, Kansas, Austin and Houston, eventually moving to New Mexico with 3 young children. Bill “Whit” Whitfield was engaged in ranching, oil and gas businesses and several automobile dealerships. By the time their fourth child was born, they had moved to Albuquerque, where they lived until 1988.
By the early ‘90’s Sue and Whit often returned to Houston, splitting their time between the two cities and both the communities. They enjoyed their memberships in the Albuquerque Country Club, Albuquerque Petroleum Club, The Houston Country Club, and the Bayou Club.
Sue was an active member of The Junior League of Houston, The Junior League of Albuquerque, and The River Oaks Garden Club helping to plan many fundraisers and creating designs for the flower shows.
Sue perpetuated the philanthropic activities of her grandmother, Ella Fondren, and that of her parents in supporting education and medicine by serving on Southern Methodist University’s Board of Regents, the University of Texas’s Library Board, the Methodist Hospital Board, the Advisory Board of the Fondren Library at SMU, the Fondren Foundation, and the Trammell Foundation.
Sue was passionate about the missions of The Women’s Fund and the John P. McGovern Museum of Health and Medical Science. She served as Board President of each organization and remained an enthusiastic supporter for decades!
Sue’s love of family and respect of her parents, grandparents and great grandmother naturally ignited her interest in genealogy. She spent many hours researching family lines and even traveling with her eldest daughter, Susan, to see old family homes or to find cemetery markers. These endeavors culminated with Sue authoring a beautiful book concentrating on her aunt, Mary Trammell, “Aunt Mary’s Scrapbook.” Mother and daughter were both members of many patriotic organizations that included Mayflower Compact, Daughters of the American Revolution, United Daughters of the Confederacy, Magna Carta Barons, Daughter’s of 1812, Colonial Dames of the 17th Century, Colonial Dames of America, Jamestown Society, and Founders and Patriots.
Sue always enjoyed family and pulling friends together whether for an event or a small party at home. Entertaining was truly one of her passions which she did often and with attention to every detail.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Bill Whitfield; brothers, Walter Fondren “Sonny” Trammell, Wash Bryan Trammell Jr., and Thomas S. Trammell and his wife Carolyn Green Trammell.
Sue is survived by her beloved children, Susan Trammell Whitfield (Houston, TX), Walter Trammell Whitfield (Santa Monica, CA), William Franklin Whitfield, Jr. and his wife Diane Ratzlaff (Seattle, WA), and Celia W. Crank and her husband James Crank (Dallas, TX); six grandchildren, Amelia Simmons and her husband Jason, Madeline and Gabrielle Crank, and Liam, Stanley and Trammell Whitfield, and Sister-in-Law, Ann Trammell.
The family would like to extend their gratitude to Trammell Whitfield Properties’ long-time secretary, Rosalind Lilly; and to all of
Sue’s devoted caregivers for their many years of service and kindness: Yolanda and Noe Rey, Eva Guzman, Brittain Jeane, Felisary Marcano, Hilda Lara & Loretta Kuku.
Friends are cordially invited to a visitation with the family from five o’clock in the afternoon until seven o’clock in the evening on Thursday, the 27th of February, in the parlor and grand foyer of
Geo. H. Lewis & Sons, 1010 Bering Drive in Houston.
A funeral service is to be conducted at nine o’clock in the morning on Friday, the 28th of February, at
The Church of St. John the Divine, 2450 River Oaks Boulevard in Houston, where Rev. Reagan Cocke, Sr. Associate Rector, and Rev. Dr. Laurens Hall will officiate. Following the service, all are invited to greet the family during a reception to be held at a venue to be announced during the service.
The family will then gather for a private interment at Glenwood Cemetery in Houston.
In lieu of customary remembrances, and for those desiring, the family requests with gratitude that memorial contributions in her name be directed to The John P. McGovern Museum of Health and Medical Science, 1515 Hermann Drive, Houston, TX, 77004; and/or to The Houston Methodist Hospital Foundation, P.O. Box 4384, Houston, TX, 77210.
Please visit Mrs. Whitfield’s online memorial tribute at GeoHLewis.com where memories and words of comfort and condolence may be shared electronically with her family.