Becky Rogers Walton of the Hunter Community, (De Soto Parish Louisiana) was born on Halloween, and this explains a lot if you really knew her, October 31, 1947 in Logansport, Louisiana, to the late M.O. “Jack” Rogers and Gloria Brossette Rogers.  Much to her dismay, she lived her entire life right there on “the hill“. Well, actually, after her children were grown and moved out, she and Pa built her dream home down in front of the big pond, (rest assured, the timing of that decision was thoroughly discussed by said children) and she was quite content staying at home after that.  Ma left here and took her first breath of Heavenly air, no longer needing oxygen, no longer needing anything, on Wednesday, May 24, 2023 at Willis-Knighton Pierremont Medical Center in Shreveport, at the age of 75. She was thoroughly worn out and ready to go HOME. She was “Rosebud” to her husband of almost 57 years, Sam Walton. Whenever she met someone new, during the course of conversation, she would end up telling them she was married to Sam Walton. Then, when the look of surprise and shock came across their face she would follow up by saying “don’t get excited, it’s definitely not that one”.  We think the best years of their marriage weren’t when they were young and carefree, but, oddly enough, in recent years. It’s been such a blessing for both of them to faithfully and dutifully take care of each other throughout their health challenges. Of course We kids just assumed that they didn’t trust us to do it right so they had no other choice but rely on each other. Overall, that was probably a wise decision. 

She’s also survived by her first born, her daughter Sonya Lynette “Cissy” Dearman of Hunter Louisiana, who she punished by giving her that hideous first and middle name. We always felt it was because Ma hated her first name so much, which you’ll notice we didn’t mention in this obituary, so she chose Cissy’s name with a sort of “misery loves company” ideology. She had a great love for her son-in-law, Jim Dearman, thinking he had no clue what he was getting into when he married into the family and she really felt sorry for him.  Realizing, after having Cissy a few years, that they could surely do better, they had a son, Michael Walton, who lives in Sheridan Arkansas. She was always concerned about him because he had the same personality, disposition and mouth that she had, so she knew he would either do great things in life or end up in prison. She died still unsure how that will ultimately turn out.  Needless to say, after having both children for several years, they just decided to cut their losses and wait for grandkids.  We weren’t planning to mention them, the granddaughters that is, but we’re really not sure what havoc Ma might be able to wreak from the great beyond, so we’re reluctantly putting them in here.  Reason being, once Lindsay Carpenter and Kristin Dearman were born, they seemed to do no wrong in Ma’s eyes, and yes we were all more than a little jealous. Of course Ma knew this and it seemed to motivate her. Oh, and we can’t forget her grandson-in-law, Clay Carpenter, who she put in the same area of concern as her son-in-law. Our little family didn’t come with warning labels, so Ma just felt like she’d have to pray extra hard for them.  Later, when the great grandchildren came on-scene, Elias, Evlynn “Evie”, Winter and Samuel, we just gave up any hopes of future recognition whatsoever.  Ma was an extremely gifted person when it came to making pretty things out of nothing. She dabbled in more types of arts and crafts then we could possibly remember to mention. Unknown numbers of people, who never met her, have eaten a piece of wedding, birthday, or other occasion cake that she baked and decorated. If you knew Ma, you know she loved her animals, and we sincerely hope that her mansion in heaven has a backyard full of peacocks. Mainly because she had more animals than Noah, yet reminded us constantly, that the one thing she didn’t have was a peacock. Over the years, she raised hundreds of dogs. Well, Pa raised them mostly, but make no mistake it was under her direction. She always rooted for the underdog in any situation, and that crossed over into her animals as well. She especially liked her dogs when they got old and toothless and wheezed just a little, because she felt like she was in better shape than they were. If all the dogs weren’t enough, she decided about the time Pa retired that they needed to have an ostrich farm. She was always a little apprehensive about his retiring after only being home every other week during his entire offshore oil career, so no one at that time, Pa included, was really sure if this venture was for hobby, for profit, or if she was perhaps just setting him up to get rid of him, just in case his being at home full-time got on her nerves.  Lord knows Pa was an ostrich kick away from Glory on several occasions. In the end it all turned out fine and everyone made it through that phase pretty much unscathed, except the poor traumatized people who reported Bigfoot sightings when the ostriches escaped and roamed freely through western De Soto Parish for a time there at the end. She was a career person….well kind of. She worked in numerous occupations through the years, until she got tired of the work or the people at work and then she would come to the house, regroup, and set off on her next adventure. She would likely have died in Angola prison had she continued her career as a bus driver into this modern day society where everyone keeps their feelings hurt. Luckily for her, she did it during those days when people had good sense, and discipline was enacted at the place of the offense, by the person in charge, and on that bus, make no mistake, she was in charge.  Now Ma was a precious person, but both her children can tell you firsthand, and backhand, that she believed in discipline. Now, it’s generally believed (by him) that her son didn’t deserve nearly as many whipping’s as he got, but he felt sorry for his sister so he took them anyway to save her the pain.  Ma didn’t believe in grounding you, she was more a fan of swift justice. Her idea of “Time out“ was when she got tired of swinging the belt, switch, flyswatter, shoe, or whatever other instrument of torture that she had available, so she switched hands. She also worked at the school cafeteria, thankfully before hairnet requirements. She worked in retail, and she sold Avon and Tupperware. She went to beauty school and did hair briefly. She sold real estate through Century 21 as well as burial policies for Kilpatrick. Between those two careers she felt like she would either sell you your forever home, or your sure ‘nuff forever home.  Ma was honestly the kindest person you would ever meet and also the most gentle, yet if she saw a snake, the after affects would look like an Al-Qaeda airstrike had taken place, assuming of course the pilot had been a short, Louisiana country girl who likely cussed a little during the process.  She was “Ma” to untold numbers of people in her community, and we are admittedly biased, but we feel the world is a little less bright today with her homegoing. She didn’t just give us life, she made our lives enjoyable. She taught us to be good people even when people aren’t good… Or else she would kill us. She taught us to believe in ourselves, because she believed in us…or else she would kill us. She also insisted, and would do an in-depth investigation every New Years Day to make sure that we ate our black-eyed peas, cabbage, and hog jowl, just like any self-respecting southern mama would do. Please don’t think her admonishments only apply to her immediate family. Y’all don’t get off the hook that easy. To anyone who has already cried, or has even thought about shedding a tear, I’ll refer you to her famous line:  “dry it up or I’ll give you something to cry about“.  We’ll end this obituary, with the only thing that she would want you to know. Through all her sickness and suffering over the years, her faith never wavered one bit. All that little woman would want you to know is that she made the most important decision of her life many years ago,  and that she was a blood bought, born again, child of the true living God, and He saw her through 75 years on this earth, and now she’s home for an eternity with Him in Heaven. We laugh at this obituary, because for the child of God, “death ain’t no big deal“. If you don’t know Ma’s Jesus, there’s no time like right now.  A celebration of her life will be held at 3:00 p.m., Sunday, May 28, 2023 at Magnolia Baptist Church On Highway 191 in the Hunter Community with Bro. Michael Walton and Bro. Amador Santos  officiating. Burial will follow in the Hunter Memorial Park cemetery adjacent to the church.  

Visitation will also be Sunday, from 1:00 p.m. until service time.  Lord, we hope you had her some Community Dark Roast ready in an old drip coffee pot when she got there and I don’t know whether or not you like squirrel, but she can make some mean gravy. Oh, and one last thing…. Lord we realize, that you know all things, but it might be a good idea to not call her Evlynn…. Just trust us on that. 

Online condolences & tributes can be sent at www.watsonandsonsfh.com