WILLIE BETH (MILLSAP) MCWHORTER
1923-2017
Willie Beth (Millsap) McWhorter was born July 13, 1923, in the rural community of Pecan Gap (Delta County), Texas, to Elmer A. and Leon (Boyd) Millsap. She passed away on January 21, 2017, peacefully and quietly in the home where she had lived for the last sixty-six years. The Millsaps went on to become career educators, he in administration and she in teaching. They moved to the Houston area around 1930 where Willie Beth went on to continue that educator tradition, holding various support staff positions, mostly at Edgewood Elementary School in Spring Branch School District, from which she retired in 1988 after twenty-eight years of service.
Willie Beth met Eddie McWhorter at Cypress-Fairbanks High School where they both graduated in 1940, the first graduating class from the newly consolidated school district. They were married on September 4, 1942, and celebrated sixty-four anniversaries before Eddie`s passing in October, 2006. They had three children: Edward E. “Smokey” McWhorter (wife-Connie), Mary Beth McWhorter, and Glenna Lou McWhorter Davis, resulting in four grandchildren (Shara Davis Aucoin and Cullen Davis, Conn and Kap McWhorter) and eleven great-grandchildren.
Willie Beth and Eddie developed an interest in square dancing which grew into a life-long passion for them both. They joined the Fairbees Square Dance Club in 1962, and for the next fifty years or so, none who knew them well dared try to schedule anything else on Thursday night, their regular dance night. They both remained active in square dance affairs until their last days, holding many local and state-wide offices and receiving many honors along the way. For many years they danced multiple times a week. It was a sad day when Willie Beth hung up her petticoats for the last time, and passed her colorful dresses on for someone else to twirl.
This world has lost one of its gentlest servants. To all who knew her, Willie Beth was an inspiring example of unconditional love, undemanding affection, and untiring service. The excellent care she received in her last years from her two daughters, especially Mary Beth, was a manifest reflection of those loving qualities Willie Beth had modeled so well for so long. The space she leaves cannot be refilled. We will just have to live with that void in us until we meet again. May the rest of your journey be the very best part, Sweet One!
Visitation will be 6-8pm Thursday, January 26 at Waltrip Funeral Directors in Houston, where funeral services will be held in the chapel at 10am on Friday, January 27, the Rev. Conn McWhorter officiating. Interment will follow at Woodlawn Garden of Memories, 1101 Antoine 77055.