Violet L'Hommedieu

She was born in Sanger, Texas, on Jan. 13, 1919, to Ida Watson Bryant and Goble Frederick Bryant.

After graduating with an education degree from Texas Women's University and North Texas State in 1938, she returned to Sanger to begin a long and distinguished teaching career.

In 1939, she accepted a teaching position in Port Arthur, Texas, where she met and subsequently married Louis Phelps L'Hommedieu in 1940, and where her first son, Phelps, was born in 1942.

At the end of World War II, the family returned to Dallas, where Violet taught in the Dallas Independent School District and positively touched the lives of hundreds of children and teens for the next 40 years.

Her second son, Stevan, was born in 1950. In 1968, Violet returned to North Texas State University and earned a master's degree in guidance and counseling. She worked as a counselor until her retirement in 1985.

Violet was preceded in death by her parents Ida and Goble Bryant; her son Stevan; and her husband Lou.

She is survived by her son Phelps L'Hommedieu and wife Nancy, in Whitefish; granddaughters Brittany L'Hommedieu, in Everett, Wash., and Megan L'Hommedieu, in Whitefish; brother Goble Watson Bryant and wife Barbara, in Atlanta, Ga; nephews Watson Bryant and Bruce Bryant and their families in Atlanta, Ga.; niece Barbara Williams and family in Richmond, Va.; and special friend Donella L'Hommedieu, of Whitefish.

Showing the heart of a lion until the end, Violet's remarkable strength, her endless capacity to love and her engaging sense of humor will be missed by all who knew her.