1924
Maxine
2009
Maxine Guidry Woolner
January 7, 1924 — September 6, 2009
Maxine Guidry Woolner
7 January 1924 – 6 September 2009
Maxine Guidry Woolner, age 85, passed away peacefully and in comfort in her apartment at the Clare Bridge Community in Troutdale, Oregon, on 6 September 2009. She died from complications of renal failure.
Maxine was the daughter of Joseph Villeré Guidry and Rosa neé Hollier Guidry. She grew up in Orange, Texas. She came from a large family and had two brothers and seven sisters. From early childhood she had a keen interest in drama and theater, and was particularly proud of her participation in the Bengal Guards Drum and Bugle Corps. She was also an avid reader and enjoyed, as she called it, 'the life of the mind.' She devoured books and yearned to travel and experience the world.
Maxine attended college at the University of Chicago, studying at the Goodman Theater. She worked as a secretary for what she later learned was the Manhattan Project. During the war she also traveled to California and worked in a defense plant.
She met a handsome young sailor, a World War II veteran, named Bruce Edwin Woolner, and fell in love with him. They married on 14 December 1946 in Orange. She would support him as he attended college and then law school at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. After practicing law for a brief period, the couple moved to Washington, D.C., where Bruce joined the U.S. State Department and became a diplomat. Maxine got to fulfill a wish for travel and excitement by being the wife of a diplomat, living for a year in Israel and then for two years in Cyprus. When they returned to the U.S., they left government service. Bruce worked at a variety of jobs before he found his career, and Maxine helped to support the family by working, mostly at automobile dealerships as a title clerk. Then Bruce began work as an executive with Government Employees Insurance Company, and Maxine then began her career as the wife of a business executive. Together they lived in Virginia, Washington, D.C., Honolulu, Hawaii, San Francisco and Long Beach, California, before retiring to Orange, Texas.
In 1973, they did something completely unexpected. They quit work and began a trip around the world, mostly by taking passenger berths on cargo ships. For a year and a half, they visited North and South America, Africa, the Middle East, Europe, Asia and the islands of the Pacific.
Maxine is survived by her two sons, Marshall Villeré Woolner and his wife Sharon Ann of Gresham, Oregon; Bruce Eric Woolner and his wife Rhodora, of Riverdale Maryland. She has seven grandchildren and twenty great-grandchildren. She is also survived by her sisters, Irma Hardwick, of Sugar Land, Texas; Bonnie Rach, of Hemphill, Texas and Shirleen Daniel, of Brenham, Texas.
She was predeceased by her husband, Bruce Edwin Woolner on 13 December 2000; by four sisters and both brothers.
In lieu of flowers, please make donations to the Orange Public Library.
Visitation will be at the Claybar Funeral Home, 504 5th Street, Orange, Texas on Saturday, September 12th, 2009 at 10:00 A.M., followed by funeral services at 11:00 A.M. Interment directly after funeral services at the Evergreen Cemetery in Orange. This will be followed by a gathering at 1809 W. Hart Avenue, Orange, Texas.
Intellectual Feisty Traveler
7 January 1924 – 6 September 2009
Maxine Guidry Woolner, age 85, passed away peacefully and in comfort in her apartment at the Clare Bridge Community in Troutdale, Oregon, on 6 September 2009. She died from complications of renal failure.
Maxine was the daughter of Joseph Villeré Guidry and Rosa neé Hollier Guidry. She grew up in Orange, Texas. She came from a large family and had two brothers and seven sisters. From early childhood she had a keen interest in drama and theater, and was particularly proud of her participation in the Bengal Guards Drum and Bugle Corps. She was also an avid reader and enjoyed, as she called it, 'the life of the mind.' She devoured books and yearned to travel and experience the world.
Maxine attended college at the University of Chicago, studying at the Goodman Theater. She worked as a secretary for what she later learned was the Manhattan Project. During the war she also traveled to California and worked in a defense plant.
She met a handsome young sailor, a World War II veteran, named Bruce Edwin Woolner, and fell in love with him. They married on 14 December 1946 in Orange. She would support him as he attended college and then law school at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. After practicing law for a brief period, the couple moved to Washington, D.C., where Bruce joined the U.S. State Department and became a diplomat. Maxine got to fulfill a wish for travel and excitement by being the wife of a diplomat, living for a year in Israel and then for two years in Cyprus. When they returned to the U.S., they left government service. Bruce worked at a variety of jobs before he found his career, and Maxine helped to support the family by working, mostly at automobile dealerships as a title clerk. Then Bruce began work as an executive with Government Employees Insurance Company, and Maxine then began her career as the wife of a business executive. Together they lived in Virginia, Washington, D.C., Honolulu, Hawaii, San Francisco and Long Beach, California, before retiring to Orange, Texas.
In 1973, they did something completely unexpected. They quit work and began a trip around the world, mostly by taking passenger berths on cargo ships. For a year and a half, they visited North and South America, Africa, the Middle East, Europe, Asia and the islands of the Pacific.
Maxine is survived by her two sons, Marshall Villeré Woolner and his wife Sharon Ann of Gresham, Oregon; Bruce Eric Woolner and his wife Rhodora, of Riverdale Maryland. She has seven grandchildren and twenty great-grandchildren. She is also survived by her sisters, Irma Hardwick, of Sugar Land, Texas; Bonnie Rach, of Hemphill, Texas and Shirleen Daniel, of Brenham, Texas.
She was predeceased by her husband, Bruce Edwin Woolner on 13 December 2000; by four sisters and both brothers.
In lieu of flowers, please make donations to the Orange Public Library.
Visitation will be at the Claybar Funeral Home, 504 5th Street, Orange, Texas on Saturday, September 12th, 2009 at 10:00 A.M., followed by funeral services at 11:00 A.M. Interment directly after funeral services at the Evergreen Cemetery in Orange. This will be followed by a gathering at 1809 W. Hart Avenue, Orange, Texas.
Intellectual Feisty Traveler
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