Good Neighbors Remembered | Voices of the Violet Crown

Updated December 4, 2024

We dedicated the blog post “A Voice of the Violet Crown” in memory of some of the good neighbors we have known. Here’s more about each of them. Photo of the gate image, below left, from the “Local” series by Brentwood neighbor Al Evans, 1946-2022, and reprinted with his permission. More about Al below, in “2022.”

1996

Evelyn H. McCathran, of Crestview. Evelyn was a longtime Dartmouth Avenue neighbor and member of Crestview Baptist Church (her home was just west of the church). She regularly attended National Night Out parties on Dartmouth Avenue in the early 90s. Evelyn, 76, passed away January 26, 1996.

2006

Ryder “Red Ryder” Schwartz, formerly of Crestview. Ryder, 39, passed away May 28, 2006. We interviewed his mother, Beverly Lester, on February 9, 2008. A DVD of her videotaped interview is at the Austin History Center. Ryder and Beverly appear in our film A Community Mosaic. Ryder juggling also is depicted in a mosaic on the Wall of Welcome, 7100 Woodrow Avenue, Austin.

2009

Nesbitt H. (Neb) Parson and his wife Helen were longtime good neighbors and dedicated gardeners on Morrow Street in Crestview. They later moved back to their home state of Arkansas, where Neb, 84, passed away February 18, 2009.

Frieda Annie Neff, of Dartmouth Avenue in Crestview. Well into her 70s, Frieda regularly attended National Night Out parties on Dartmouth during the 1980s and 1990s. After having dinner with friends from Redeemer Lutheran Church, she stopped by the party, spent time visiting with everyone, then insisted she’d be fine walking home alone in the dark. Frieda retired from the University of Texas at age 79 after working there 43 years. She loved music, history, her home, and her large extended family. For many years, she and Mrs. McCathran were across-the-street neighbors and friends, and they walked their dogs together through the neighborhood. Frieda, 89, passed away September 5, 2009.

Sa rah Walton Parmele Cooke, of Crestview. She was born in the downtown Austin home of her grandparents, Letitia and Buck Walton, a prominent lawyer. Sarah lived in Crestview with her son Glenn Cooke and daughter-in-law Louise for 15 years, until she died at age 106 on November 28, 2009. Sarah always enjoyed reading the letters her grandfather sent her when she was young and liked to go out for Mexican food after church at Crestview Methodist on Sunday. Rachel Cooke, 19, Sarah’s great-granddaughter, disappeared near Georgetown in 2002 and has never been found. Sarah’s grandson and Rachel’s dad Robert William Cooke, 59, passed away November 5, 2014, and Sarah’s son and Louise’s husband David Glenn Cooke Jr., 93, died December 27, 2017 (see below). We interviewed Louise Cooke on January 25, 2009. A DVD of her videotaped interview is at the Austin History Center. Louise also appears in our film A Community Mosaic.

2010

Christopher (Chris) Noffsinger, formerly of Crestview. Chris grew up on Dartmouth Avenue and attended local schools. Like many neighborhood teens, he worked at Crestview Minimax IGA (as of 2023, Fresh Plus) and Little Deli. He graduated from McCallum and was a student at Texas Tech. From a very young age, he loved politics and music. He served as a legislative page for Rep. Elliott Naishtat and performed with the band Dry County. A CD by the group features Chris on guitar and vocals and five songs he had written. Chris, 27, passed away April 3, 2010, in San Marcos, Texas. He is remembered by his parents, brother, sister, and extended family; longtime friends; and former neighbors. On November 6, 2010, his mother, Barbara, and friends planted a tree in Chris’s memory in Brentwood Park, one of 115 trees planted during a historic Friends of Brentwood Park event. Chris is remembered in the We Planted 115 Trees dedication clip.

2011

Lydia Barton Huebel, of Brentwood, who enjoyed working in her yard and inspired neighbor Mona Lee Fultz (of BriteLites Studio in Crestview Shopping Center) to create her amazing gardens. Lydia, 90, passed away January 22, 2011.

Lois Zwerneman Kasper, of Dartmouth Avenue in Crestview. Lois, 85, died January 23, 2011.

Donald E. (Don) Gresser, of Crestview. Don, 85, passed away February 15, 2011. We interviewed Don and Gladys on March 7, 2009. A DVD of their videotaped interview is at the Austin History Center.

Ben Joe Petmecky, formerly of Brentwood. Ben, 88, died October 13, 2011. A transcript of his oral history interview can be read here. We interviewed Ben on May 24, 2009. A DVD of his videotaped interview is at the Austin History Center.

Margaret E. Lankford, of Brentwood. Margaret and her family donated a tree in memory of her husband, L. L. Lankford, for the Friends of Brentwood Park tree planting on November 6, 2010. She appears in the tree dedication clip of We Planted 115 Trees. Margaret, 91, passed away November 20, 2011. We interviewed Margaret on November 6, 2010. A DVD of her videotaped interview is at the Austin History Center.

2012

Renald Ferrovecchio, of Brentwood. Renald, 43, died in a gas explosion at his home on Payne Avenue on January 9, 2012. In his memory, neighbors raised funds for a purple martin house in the nearby park. Friends of Brentwood Park coordinated the installation, and the house was dedicated April 1, 2012. A memorial bench, installed near the purple martin house, was dedicated on Renald’s birthday, October 5, 2013. Members of his family, who live out of town, attended both events.

J. D. Harper, owner of Crestview Pharmacy in Austin from 1964 to 2012. J. D., 77, passed away May 11, 2012. Susan Burneson and John Leffler interviewed J. D. in 2004. A photo of J. D. and his family also appears in our film A Community Mosaic.

Alfred Otto (Al) Boemer, of Crestview, died June 8, 2012; he was 84. Al lived on the northwest corner of Woodrow and Richcreek. Any neighbor who walked past his house when Al was outside will remember him for his friendliness and the way he shared the harvest from his well-maintained garden along Woodrow. Ronnie Prellop of Crestview Minimax IGA told us Al made great homemade sauerkraut and bought his canning supplies from the store. We remember first learning about longtime Crestview gardener Maude Yates from Al when he signed our guestbook at the first Violet Crown Festival in 2003. Maude and her husband Ray, who helped develop Crestview, lived on the southeast corner of Woodrow and Richcreek, catty-corner from the Boemers. (More about Maude here: Houses Sing 1, Yates Avenue, and J. D. Harper Oral History.) We featured a photo of Al’s garden in a Community Tent display at the first festival. In April 2014, Susan Burneson took photos of his garden (including the one above) and other neighborhood sites for the City of Austin’s Community Character in a Box project for Crestview. Al’s garden was later maintained by his son, Steve.

Karen Burns Dailey, formerly of Sunshine Drive in Brentwood. Karen, 59, died June 14, 2012.

Albert Francis Kirby, formerly of Brentwood and a longtime member of Crestview Baptist Church. Al, 85, passed away October 7, 2012. We interviewed Al on March 29, 2009. A DVD of his videotaped interview is at the Austin History Center.

Paul Foreman, author, publisher, and bookstore owner. He was born in Texas, lived for a time in California, and returned to Texas in 1978 with his wife, the poet Foster Robertson. They moved to Crestview in 1992. Paul founded Thorp Springs Press in California in 1971 and kept it going when he moved back to Texas. In 1979, he opened Brazos Book Shop and Bois d’Arc Gallery at 803 Red River Street in Austin. In West of the American Dream (2001), Paul Christensen described Paul and the shop, which I also remember well: “[The bookstore was] housed in an old field-stone building . . . The intellectuals showed up, the artists drifted in . . . It was a homey place, with a wood stove hissing away, and Paul holding forth on any subject one cared to raise. He was a wise old sage at the age of forty.” According to his entry in the Handbook of Texas Online, Paul also “worked with the Austin Arts Commission; was a founding member of the Austin Writers League and Texas Circuit; helped preserve the home of writer J. Frank Dobie, which later became the administrative offices of the James Michener Center for Writers of the University of Texas at Austin; and lobbied for and saw the reestablishment of the poet laureateship of Texas.” Paul, 69, died December 21, 2012, in Austin. The Thorp Springs Press archive is at the UT Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center.

2013

David L. Sikes, a Brentwood neighbor for 45 years. David served during the Korean War, was a founding member and president of Brentwood Neighborhood Association, and worked to improve the basketball court and sidewalk at Brentwood Park, among many other accomplishments in the neighborhood and beyond. David, 80, passed away October 1, 2013. His family donated funds for a memorial bench, which was installed September 2014 in the northeast corner of Brentwood Park.

Robert Henry (Bob) Harwood, longtime Crestview neighbor and member of Crestview Neighborhood Association and a recipient of the Silver Star and Purple Heart for his service during World War II. Bob, 97, passed away October 17, 2013. More about Bob here.

Jennifer Jean (Jenny) Malin, UT doctoral student, filmmaker, and gardener. In 2010, two of Jenny’s films were selected for the City of Austin’s Faces of Austin program, including one about Crestview’s former Urban Patchwork Neighborhood Farms. Jenny, 26, passed away October 26, 2013.

William L. (Bill) Williamson and his wife Virginia (Ginny) of Crestview. Ginny, 87, passed away March 12, 2010. Bill, 88, passed away November 23, 2013. We interviewed Bill (and visited with Ginny) on October 7, 2007. A DVD of his videotaped interview is at the Austin History Center. Bill appears in our film A Community Mosaic.

2014

Evangeline Marion Schneider Bushacker, of Crestview. Lynnette Alley donated a tree in honor of Evangeline and in memory of Evangeline’s late husband, Eugene, for the Friends of Brentwood Park tree planting on November 6, 2010. Evangeline appears in the tree dedication clip of our film We Planted 115 Trees. Evangeline, 94, passed away March 5, 2014. We interviewed Evangeline on November 6, 2010. A DVD of her videotaped interview is at the Austin History Center.

Robert William Cooke, 59, passed away November 5, 2014. He was the grandson of Sarah Walton Parmele Cooke (above), son of Louise Cooke and David Glenn Cooke Jr., and father of Rachel Cooke, 19, who disappeared near Georgetown in 2002 and has never been found. His father died December 27, 2017. We interviewed Louise Cooke on January 25, 2009. A DVD of her videotaped interview is at the Austin History Center. Louise also appears in our film A Community Mosaic.

Sidney Paschal Shelton, 85, and his wife, Billie Jean Wier Shelton, 83, of Brentwood, died tragically in their home on December 15, 2014. Six days later, family members, friends, and neighbors attended a ceremony honoring the Sheltons at the Brentwood Park pavilion and dedicated the annual lighting of the Arroyo Seco luminarias to their memory. Neighbors raised funds for a memorial bench honoring the Sheltons. It was installed in 2015 between the playscape and baseball diamond in Brentwood Park.

2015

Diana Gresser Almaraz, 66, who grew up in Crestview and created a Wall of Welcome tile for her parents, Don and Gladys Gresser (see Don, above), passed away January 2, 2015. We interviewed Don and Gladys on March 7, 2009. A DVD of their videotaped interview is at the Austin History Center.

Judy Carlson and her husband, John, were original Crestview neighbors who lived on Princeton Avenue until late 2014. They also were charter members and longtime volunteers at Crestview United Methodist Church. Judy passed away March 26, 2015. We share many stories about John and Judy on our website, including a special Christmas memory of Judy’s on our “Let There Be Luminarias!” page. We interviewed Judy and John on September 5, 2009. A DVD of their videotaped interview is at the Austin History Center.

Deborah “Debbie” Muehlbrad Rockett, 65, and her husband Robert Harold “Bob” Rockett, 70, died March 28, 2015, in Chapell Hill, Texas. Debbie was the daughter of neighbors Emory and Wanda Muehlbrad. (More about the Muehlbrads under “Faith Lutheran Church” here.) We interviewed Emory and Wanda on February 8, 2008. A DVD of their videotaped interview is at the Austin History Center. Emory and Wanda also appear in our film A Community Mosaic.

John Leffler, history consultant and professor, Brentwood neighbor, and Good Friend of Voices of the Violet Crown. He was the author of The History of the Copper Breaks and Environs, 1850-1970 (1998), Every Child a Wanted Child: The History of Planned Parenthood in Austin, 1937-1973 (2003), and Refuge on the Rio Grande: A Regional History of Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park (2013). He was a co-author of Ranchers, Farmers, Soldiers, and the CCC: The Background for Seven Historical Sites at Camp Bowie, Brown County, Texas (2002) and Farmers, Ranchers, the Land and the Falls: A History of the Pedernales Falls Area (2010). John, 62, died November 20, 2015.

Glen Eugene (Pete) Journeay, M. D., 90, died December 17, 2015, in Austin, Texas. Among many other accomplishments, Dr. Journeay was a longtime Austin physician, with an office in the Crestview Shopping Center for many years, beginning in 1963. Dr. Journeay’s office was where the Little Deli is today, opposite the former Crestview Pharmacy. The J. D. Harper family, owners of the pharmacy from 1964 to 2017, and the Journeay family were close friends for many years. Read more about Dr. Journeay in J. D. Harper’s 2004 oral history. (The Crestview Pharmacy location later became the Violet Crown Clubhouse and, as of 2023, The Violet Crown Wine & Coffee.)

2016

Roger Beck, longtime Western Swing musician and longtime barber at Crestview Barber Shop, died September 26, 2016. He was longtime friends with Kenneth Threadgill, longtime owner of Threadgill’s on North Lamar. I interviewed Roger at Crestview Barber Shop in 2004. A photo of Roger also appears in our film A Community Mosaic.

2017

Ellen Murtaugh, 86, a Crestview neighbor and longtime member of First Cumberland Presbyterian Church, passed away June 19, 2017. She took the time to read our 12-foot-long neighborhood history display at the 2009 Violet Crown Arts Festival (held that November in Crestview Shopping Center, across West St. Johns from her house) and let us know about a typo in another neighbor’s name. We appreciated the opportunity to correct it.

Craig Ray Cherico, 59, step-grandson of original Crestview developer Ray Yates, passed away July 21, 2017. Craig lived in the Yates home on the southeast corner of Woodrow and Yates for many years. He was a good neighbor, longtime realtor, and well loved by family, friends, and co-workers.

James (Jim) Bauer, 87, husband of Frances (Mickey) Bauer died on September 30, 2017. Jim and Mickey are among the people we interviewed for our Voices of the Violet Crown project. Except for a few months, they have lived in our area for more than 60 years; Mickey moved here with her family originally in 1936, to a farm facing today’s Burnet Lane. Jim and Mickey are among the original members of St. Louis Catholic Church. We interviewed Jim and Mickey May 15, 2010; a copy of their videotaped interviewed is at the Austin History Center.

David Glenn Cooke Jr., 93, husband of Louise Cooke, died December 27, 2017. He and Louise were charter members of Crestview United Methodist Church. Their son Robert William Cooke (above) died in 2014. Their granddaughter Rachel Cooke disappeared near Georgetown, Texas, in 2002 and has never been found. We interviewed Louise Cooke on January 25, 2009. A DVD of her videotaped interview is at the Austin History Center. Louise also appears in our film A Community Mosaic.

2018

Original Crestview neighbor Emory Emil Wilhelm Muehlbrad, 92, died May 28, 2018. You can read more about him on our website here and here (see Faith Lutheran) and view videos featuring him and his wife Wanda here, here, and here. We interviewed Emory and Wanda on February 8, 2008; a DVD copy of their videotaped interview is at the Austin History Center. Emory and Wanda also appear in our film A Community Mosaic.

Original Crestview neighbor Eva Mae Waggoner (known to neighbors as Mae), 92, died June 12, 2018. She and her husband helped plant and care for the original sycamore trees in Brentwood Park beginning in in the early 1950s. Years later, when Mae was in her 80s, Mae visited the park and the Violet Crown Festival when it was held there beginning in 2003. You can read more about her on our website here; her obituary is here. Neighbor Nancy Schuler interviewed Mae in 2005.

2019

Howard Darwin Pringle, an original homebuilder throughout our area and a World War II veteran, died March 21, 2019. Howard and his brother Wiley, a Realtor, established the Pringle Company in about 1946. Howard built a brick home at 1501 Princeton Avenue in Crestview in 1955 and lived there the rest of his life. One friend remembered him this way: “He will be missed by the coffee group every morning at Dart Bowl Cafe and myself Carl Kowalczyk an old friend at coffee. He was a very well liked individual.“

Helen Parson and her husband Neb (Nesbitt) were longtime good neighbors and dedicated gardeners on Morrow Street in Crestview; they later moved back to their home state of Arkansas, where Helen, 89, died June 21, 2019.

John Benton Carlson, a longtime Crestview resident and charter member of Crestview United Methodist Church, died July 13, 2019. John worked as a postal carrier and also helped Crestview developers A. B. Beddow and Ray Yates maintain their properties. He also was a carpenter who had a large wood shop at his home. He refinished furniture and built many hand-crafted items that were used in the church. More about John and his wife here and here. Rob and I interviewed John and his wife Judy in September 2009. A DVD of their interview is at the Austin History Center.

Dave Shulder, longtime IBM employee and Friends of Brentwood Park volunteer, died on November 4, 2019, and Steve Boemer, longtime Crestview neighbor and the son of Crestview gardener Al Boemer, died on December 10, 2019. Both are remembered for their warmth, good energy, and dedication by their many family members and friends.

2020

Margie Eichelberger Daugherty, 97, died May 19, 2020. She was the granddaughter of Frank and Julia Richcreek, whose large farm began to be developed as Crestview in 1947. In September 2014, with neighbors Susan Burneson and Nancy Butlin, Margie visited the small house at 1405 Justin Lane and confirmed that it was the original Richcreek farmhouse once owned by Frank and Julia Richcreek. It was built in the early 1930s near the northwest corner of North Lamar Boulevard and Justin Lane on the Richcreek farm. It survived the nearby Capitol Prefabricators fire in July 1947 and was moved to 1405 Justin Lane in November of that year.

Jon Carl Becker, 46, a popular employee at Arlan’s Market on Woodrow, died July 9, 2020. He also worked at Cap City Comedy Club and Alamo Drafthouse. Violet Crown Clubhouse held a memorial service, and neighbors installed a banner with his photo outside Arlan’s, near a bench where Jon took breaks. His family held a celebration of life for him on August 15 in Manchester, Tennessee.

Ginny Kalmbach, 85, owner and proprietor of the Little Longhorn Saloon on Burnet Road from 1993 to 2013 (and a bartender there for a decade before that), died on December 30, 2020.

2021

Chris Lippincott, 47, a widely admired political insider and media expert, well-loved neighbor and Crestview Neighborhood Association board member, and avid fan of Texas music and UT baseball, died August 6, 2021.

Crestview neighbor Martha King, 63, died December 2, 2021, after a short illness. She and her longtime partner Beverly lovingly cared for their family and for one of the most creatively landscaped and peaceful homes in the neighborhood. Martha was well known for her many professional accomplishments and volunteer contributions throughout Austin.

Kyle Gillman, 57, died December 6, 2021. He was well known in Austin as a commercial real estate professional and within the neighborhood as a kind neighbor, who loved to garden and help other people. He was active in the Brentwood Buy Nothing group and served as a BN administrator for several years.

2022

Gladys Gresser of Aggie Lane died March 6, 2022. She was 96. She and her husband Don were longtime Crestview neighbors and volunteers, in addition to having full-time careers. We interviewed them as part of our Voices of the Violet Crown oral history project and featured them on our website, including here and here.

Annie “Ann” Mae Haydon Wingfield (right), 101, a Crestview neighbor, died May 5, 2022. Her daughter Brenda, who helped care for her mother at home, invited friends and neighbors, including members of the Crestview Buy Nothing group, to help celebrate Ann’s 100th and 101st birthdays. Ann received more than 100 cards each of those years. In 2021, while Ann still was living at home, neighbors also drove by, honked, and wished her a happy birthday.

Mary, neighbor of Tim Keough in North Shoal Creek, died June 2, 2022. • Tim posted this remembrance of Mary on the Being Neighborly North Central Austin Facebook group on June 23. It is reprinted with his permission. •. Mary passed June 2. She was on a ventilator the last two weeks of her life. I had visited her a month earlier at a care center in Leander and she really seemed full of life. She was 67 or 68, I can’t remember exactly, but her life had taken a drastic turn on Christmas Day 2021. She was in and out of hospitals and care centers til the day she died. • She was my neighbor on Millway Drive in North Shoal Creek. She initially came across as always grumpy but I accepted her as a fellow human on her own path with her own trials and didn’t take anything personally. We became good neighbors, sharing food, yard work, gossip, humor, love of animals, and finally, music. • She introduced me to her ginger cat Jimmy with whom I became friends and shared many pics over the last few years until he went to kitty heaven a year ago. • Mary and I found out each other played instruments and at one point she took guitar lessons from me but mostly we liked reading waltzes together with her on piano and me on fiddle/mandolin/guitar. She played piano beautifully and was a huge fan of Jay Unger waltzes. • I invited her to play guitar at our community old time fiddle jams and she took to it easily. She would work up the moving bass lines of Joe “Bass” DeJarnette and we would sit in her front yard or back porch playing guitar and fiddle for hours. • During the great Texas freeze she made me food and bought me a space heater. She was like a second mom in a way in that she had a supportive and nurturing side to her. • Last year she bought a house and I helped her move to Jarrell. It was a bit far and I didn’t see her much, but she got sick soon after moving. • The reason I am writing this is because Mary had very few friends, maybe one or two besides me, and no family. And no one to write an obituary or celebrate her life. When she fell ill I had the primal instinct to make sure she did not feel alone or uncared for. I called, texted, visited, shopped for hospital stay necessities but mostly shared concern and positivity. • There is always more to the story but I wanted to share and honor the essence of my own memory and experience of my dear elderly neighbor, Mary.

Brentwood neighbor Al Evans, 76, died July 19, 2022, according to a remembrance on his Facebook page two days later. • Al was so much more than the succinct resume of skills he posted on his website almost 20 years ago. “What I Can Do” was followed by “Words, Images, Music, and Software,” each with a one-sentence description. Family, friends, and neighbors closer to him will describe him more eloquently than I ever could. I can only say what I knew of him and how he touched my life. I sense he would be fine with that. • I discovered Al’s photography in mid-2012, not long after I launched a new website, Voices of the Violet Crown, about neighbors creating community in Brentwood and in Crestview, where I live. I asked Al if I could provide a link there to his photography series, “Local.” With care and skill, he documented the neighborhood on his frequent walks with his wife. On his website, he described what the images revealed to him: “These buildings and and sculptures and plants and objects show the work and love that has been poured into this neighborhood by the people who create it.” • He was happy for me to add the link, and it’s been there ever since. Later he told me he thought it brought more visitors to his website. I tend to believe it had more to do with people discovering on their own Al and his good work than anything I did. • I met Al in person once, not long after I posted the link to his images. He dropped by to bring me a copy of a 2013 calendar he created featuring his photography, and we talked for a while. He couldn’t have known what a challenging time I was going through then and how much his neighborly visit meant to me. I still have the calendar and come across it often, easily remembering Al and his kindness. • Over the next few years, with his permission, I incorporated some of his photos on my website. I also became a friend of his on Facebook. His posts about his family, photography, and musical pursuits have been highlights of my Facebook visits. His and his wife’s gatherings of musicians sounded so welcoming and fun I often wished I played an instrument well enough that I could join in. • A May 2021 Austin American-Statesman multimedia feature, “Freeing Cap’n Magneto: How Austinite’s Quest to Overcome Adversity Inspired 1980s Cult Classic Videogame,” shared Al’s inspiring story with many more people. In it, he also described his life’s focus: “We help create the world that we live in [and] show the beauty that’s all around us. I consider that my prime responsibility.” • After Al passed away, I found a November 2012 online post he made about his “Local” series of photographs. He said the series was going to be featured on four pages of the next issue of Cameracraft, a Scottish photography quarterly. And, he shared part of an email I had sent him about the “Local” photos: “I always am moved by what I find. You capture what I feel is the heart and soul of our area.” In his post, he said, “That’s exactly what I’m trying to do with the series, so I’m ecstatic!” • I’ve lived in my neighborhood for more than 35 years and, among other losses, have known many longtime neighbors who passed away or moved away. Still, it was a shock to learn that Al had died. Something in me wants such good people to be around forever, especially the ones who naturally create community in the singular way they live their lives. • A wiser part of me soon remembers what’s true. It’s up to me, as one whose life was touched by Al, to embrace the treasure of his time here. In his memory I write this now, inspired anew to “help create the world we live in” and “share the beauty that’s all around us,” just as he did. • And, I invite you to explore Al’s photographs, including his “Local” series about our neighborhood.

Brentwood neighbor Barbara Zimmerman, 67, died September 15, 2022, in Austin. Barbara was a dedicated, enthusiastic, longtime volunteer at the Violet Crown Festival and board member with Violet Crown Community Works, early on when I was a volunteer and board member. She could be counted on to do whatever needed to be done—whether it was handling finances or helping coordinate the Community Tent or any number of smaller tasks—always with skill, creativity, good energy, and a great smile. She loved animals, gardening, and finding eclectic treasures at thrift shops. At the time of her death, she was retired from the Department of State Health Services, where she had worked as a CPA for 20 years.

2023

Longtime Brentwood neighbor Kay Nell Swenson Ramsey, 78, died January 7, 2023. Kay’s parents, Gladstone and Erna Swenson, built one of the first houses on Ruth Avenue in the late 1940s. There were few trees here then. Gladstone transformed their bare yard with a large vegetable garden, flowers, and pecan trees. He preserved some of the harvest and shared the rest. Gladstone and Erna were longtime members of Faith Lutheran Church, and he also was a popular local mailman. •. Kay also made a difference in our neighborhood. She shared stories and photos of her family and home in Brentwood with Jean Graham, who created the mosaic Wall of Welcome on Woodrow Avenue. Jean transformed several of the photos into mosaics for the wall. In 2007, Rob and Susan Burneson recorded a long oral history interview with Kay. Both her parents had recently died, and she said talking about her family with them and with Jean was healing for her. A copy of the interview is at the Austin History Center. Video clips are part of the film “A Community Mosaic” and the Voices of the Violet Crown website. Not long after the interview, Kay sold her parents’ house, and the most recent owners have transformed the large yard even more. •. One of Kay’s granddaughters remembers spending lots of time at her great-grandparents’ house on Ruth and attending Faith Lutheran with them. After watching Kay’s interview, she said, “I realized everything that was so common to me was an extension of this incredible life they built, a life that was built and shared among their neighbors. They had over half a century’s worth of stories, but one generation just isn’t enough time to tell those stories.”

Crestview neighbor Kathey Ann Ferland, 69, died June 17, 2023. She touched so many lives. As a student, she made many lifelong friends when she lived at Oakland House Co-op in Austin. Her career at the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and The University of Texas at Austin reflected her deep commitment to environmental work. She was a 4th degree Black Belt and taught Ki Aikido for 25 years. She practiced Buddhism and co-founded Mariposa Sangha in Austin, where she also led meditation groups and classes. She also was an avid bridge player and a volunteer with our local park adoption group, Friends of Brentwood Park. Anyone who knew her always will remember her generous spirit and her great smile. View her powerful memorial service here.

2024

One of the last original neighbors on our street, Billie Herron, died on December 3, 2024, at age 99. She was one of our closest and favorite neighbors, always ready with a wave, a smile, and a hug, and to visit for a while. She had a majestic magnolia tree, which she planted in the mid-1950s when she moved here, and shared flowers from it each spring. The massive tree fell on its own about seven years ago and, amazingly, caused no damage to people, houses, cars, or landscaping, only a little grass. She was the first neighborr to tell us there were few trees here when Crestview was established and that the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired once had a garden north of the school all the way up to North Loop. Billie was a gem of a neighbor and will be missed. You can find more stories about her on the website.

Read about neighbors-in-history here.

—Susan