REBECCA HLAVINKA
01/22/1968 - 12/04/2022
Rebecca Elizabeth Hlavinka was the coolest hippest smartest kindest and most generous woman we ever knew. Happiness was her gift and she spread happiness, grace and acceptance everywhere and to everyone that she met. Did we mention that she was beautiful?
Rebecca attended West University Elementary, Pershing Middle School, and Lamar High School. She was a cheerleader at Lamar and proud to still be able to wear her Lamar Redskins cheerleading vest 30 years hence. She earned a philosophy degree at Baylor University.
In June 1994, she was very lucky to have met the love of her life. She lived a true, real-life love story with her husband and prince charming, Jon, one of the great gentlemen of all time. To say that the remaining 28 years of her life were a whirlwind is a vast understatement. Never a dull moment.
Though Rebecca had been accepted for an appointment to the Peace Corps, she declined the appointment and instead she and Jon married on March 28, 1998. Never was there a better marriage or a better honeymoon. The marriage thrived on spontaneity.
Together, they raised three of the finest, most committed boys, who live by the enduring values of their mom and dad. Rebecca’s family was her reason for existence; she loved her husband and her boys, whom she referred to as her “three perfect sons.” Her family defined her and brought her all of the joy in the world. In good and difficult times, she was the rock and the voice of reason, always ready with sage advice or a witty remark to calm the chaos of the Hlavinka household.
Rebecca’s life work was her total devotion to her family and every activity in which they participated. Her family was her everything – and each one of her precious boys knew it. She was so very proud of her three sons, who provided her with incalculable joy through their work in the classroom, in the community, on the ballfields (especially the football field at Lamar), in Kantorei at St. John’s School, in musical theater, and just in general. Each of her three boys is an Eagle Scout. Collectively, the family developed a language of unique phrases and expressions that will be studied by puzzled linguists for decades to come.
Rebecca volunteered extensively during and after Hurricanes Katrina and Harvey, at her kids’ schools, for the West University Little League Auxiliary, at the Orange Show, as silent auction chair for the JDRF Houston Gala, at the Museum of Fine Arts – Houston, and as room mom and team mom. She sometimes provided the homeless with blankets and jackets and taught her boys about the import of caring for, accepting, and loving others, regardless of their stripes. Her proudest achievement was raising her three sons to have respect for themselves and for those around them.
Rebecca liked simple things and saw things differently. The way that light shone into the room was important to her. Her amateur interior design skills were unmatched. She knew how to make a simple home a beautiful place and could turn the simplicity of Brays Bayou walnuts into a beautiful fall arrangement. Her every creation was filled with her trademarked passion and love. She loved driving the kids around in the family Sequoia, and later the family Suburban (which has traveled every inch of freeway between Miami and Los Angeles).
She loved music and the arts. And she had good taste in both of them.
Left behind to cherish Rebecca’s memory are her husband, Joseph Jonathan Hlavinka, and her three sons, Joseph Weston Hlavinka, Jonathan Walter Hlavinka, and Louis Victor “Bobby” Hlavinka. She is survived by her mother, Barbara Weston Scott; her motherin-law, Ruby M. Hlavinka; her father-in-law Victor F. Hlavinka (Suzy); her sisterin-law Wanda Northam
(Jon); and her nieces and nephews Claire Long (Clint), Mark Northam, Adam Northam, and Ben Northam. She is also survived by her sister Rachel Keller (Dan) and their kids Sarah and Sam, and her brother Alex Vitale (Elizabeth Palley), and their kids Charlotte and Amelia.
Rebecca is so deeply missed by so many because of the person she was. She was a bright light. It was the honor of Jon’s life to be married to her and particularly to be her constant companion and take care of her over the last several months of her life.
In lieu of flowers, Rebecca hoped that those desiring would consider a donation to the JDRF at the following link: http://www2.jdrf.org/ goto/rebeccahlavinka.