Edrie Earle Parsons, 101, of Center, Texas, passed away on January 26, 2025, surrounded by
loved ones in Center, Texas. She was born on October 19, 1923, in Bertram Texas (the Hill
Country), to the late Herbert Hall and Zula (Stewart) Hunt.
Being raised on a farm in the Hill Country during the Great Depression resulted in Edrie being a
very strong-willed and hard working lady. She told many stories about the hardships she and her
family endured during those years. She told of picking cotton and how the schools would close
so all the kids in the community could help their folks with the “crop,” how she was raised
churning butter from the cows she had to milk, how they did their homework by candlelight as
they had no electricity, how they traveled in a horse or mule drawn buggy and only when she was
a teen did her family get a “car.” For entertainment, many in the community would gather and
they would have a fiddle player and a guitar player, a juice harp, maybe a banjo and a wash tub
bass player and they would all sing and sometimes even dance. They had no phones and little
transportation, so dating was difficult. She said every Saturday night she would clean up and put
on a dress made from feed sacks and hope a boy would come by wanting to take her out. She said
she always went with the first boy who came by as she had no way of knowing if another would
come later. She met her first husband, Leroy Parsons, at a community baseball game when she
was 16 and within months they were married and moved to Austin.
Leroy was drafted into the Navy during WWII, and she answered a call for help by going
to Houston and working as a welder making parts for airplanes since most of the males were off
fighting the war. After the war, she and Leroy settled in Houston and had three children. She
attended the University of Houston while working as a grocery checker at a local grocery store
and earned an accounting certificate. She worked as an accountant for many years. She and
Leroy were married approximately 26 years when he was killed in a motor vehicle accident.
Several years later, she married Buddy Johnson and they remained married for over 30 years
before his passing. For the last 17 years of her working life before she retired, she was the
comptroller at All State Erectors, a multimillion dollar construction corporation, located in the
south part of Houston.
Her daughter Lynda relates that her friends all called Edrie either “Mom” or Ms. “P” and
in later life, here in Shelby County, most of Lynda’s friends called her Mom or mother. She also
had a nickname of Sapphire that her husband Buddy tagged her with so many called her
Sapphire. She loved telling stories about her life and loved discussing politics even more so.
She loved reading and read her Bible regularly until she lost her eyesight. She also loved plants,
flowers and being outside, fishing or just sitting under a tree “talking to God.” For the last 14
years of her life, Edrie lived with her daughter Lynda K Russell here in Center, Texas. Up until
the last few weeks of her life when her health began to fail, she brightened the mood when
anyone was in the room with her. Her smile was contagious and she always had everyone
laughing before they left. She will be deeply missed by those who knew and loved her.
She is survived by her daughters,
Sharon Spicer and husband Jim
Lynda K. Russell and husband Jay White
Grandchildren:
Susie Montgomery and husband Mark
Gina Drewett and husband Eddie
Numerous great grandchildren and great-great grandchildren and nieces and nephews.
A host of family and friends.
Special friends Montie Jones, Ronnie Borders, Janice Pugh, Julie Martin and Sara Martinez.
Edrie is preceded in death by her husband Leroy Parsons and her husband Buddy Johnson; her
parents Herbert Hall and Zula Hunt, son LeMoyne Parsons, brother Harold Hunt, and sister
Mildred Fisher.
To send condolences or to sign an online register, please visit www.mangumfh.net
Edrie requested that there be no service and that her remains be cremated.
Mangum Funeral Home, Center, is in charge of these arrangements.
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