Essie Lee McMullen of Humble, Texas finished her race and completed the task the Lord Jesus had given her, entering eternal life on Wednesday, March 8, 2017. She was born July 16 ^th , 1926 in Rosebud, Texas as the youngest of four siblings. Her mom died before she was old enough to remember her and her father shortly thereafter.  She was raised by her Aunt Ollie and Uncle Matt and left home when she was 15 to go stay with her beloved sister, Lona Lou (Frances) Gann.  Her life was not always easy, but one she could make better and bestow her love and kindness to all who knew her.  She didn't get to travel a lot but she was a person who loved to go.  She never tired of going, visiting and seeing things.  She worked as a seamstress in a tailor shop located in downtown Houston for many years and then at a sewing factory in Lufkin.  From this came her love of bright colors that she used sewing clothes for her children and in her quilts and crafts.  She had many talents that included sewing, quilting, gardening, canning and cooking but her best talent was being a wife and a mother.  She said she always tried to be the type of mother she had wanted her mother to have been.  We know she exceeded whatever she had imagined because she was absolutely the best mom ever.

We found this saying in an unopened fortune cookie that mom got the last time she went for Chinese food about a week and half ago.  When opened the day, she went to meet the Lord, how appropriate it was that the message embodied what our mom had achieved and what we should all strive for which is character.

"Character cannot be purchased, bargained for, inherited, rented or imported from afar."

She is preceded in death by her husband "Mack" Ernest Franklin McMullen; son "Bobby" Robert Lee Garner, Jr.; parents John Aubrey and Nancy Alphara Williamson; brothers "TM" Thomas Monroe and Aubrey Williamson; sister Lona Lou "Frances" Williamson Gann; grandson Jeremy Peterson; great grandsons Richard Allen Aycock Medina, Liam Dauzat; step-daughters Dorothy Rushing and Dottis Gates; step-grandsons Leroy and Billy Bullock; niece Judy Binnion and nephew Butch Gann. She is survived by her daughter Virginia Lois Sontag and husband Gene Sontag; daughter Nancy "Gail" Dauzat and husband Calvin Dauzat; daughter Sandra "Sandy" Jean Hyde and husband Sam Hyde; daughter-in-law Eloise Foh and husband Bob Foh; grandchildren Tracy Aycock, Richard Aycock, Michael Aycock, Becky Garner, Rodney Garner, Brent Dauzat, Brad Dauzat and Todd Hyde; step-grandchildren Susan Reed, David Franklin, Cindy Horn, Doug Gates, James Bullock and Kenneth Bullock; great grandchildren Jared Peterson, Jason Aycock, Josh Aycock, Jayvan Aycock, Jonathan Aycock, Colton Aycock, Courtney Broome, Peyton Dauzat, Hannah Dauzat, Bryce Garner, Brent Garner, Dylan McDonald, Kaycee Martin, Van Allen Aycock Medina, Dystin Myatt and Kaylee Myatt; eighteen great-great grandchildren; special nieces and nephews Linda, Lou Dean, Bubba, Jerry and their families and many more extended family, friends and Hospice caregivers.

Funeral services for Mrs. Essie Lee McMullen will be held Tuesday, March 14 ^th , at 11:00 a.m. in the Calvary Baptist Church of Nogalus Prairie, Texas with interment following at Calvary Cemetery. Visitation will be held Monday, March 13 ^th all day and evening at Calvary Baptist Church.

Pallbearers: Richard Aycock, Rodney Garner, Brent Dauzat, Jared Peterson, Josh Aycock, Colton Aycock and "Bubba" Floyd Garner

Honorary Pallbearer: Floyd Garner, Jr.

Please share your thoughts and memories on the Groveton Funeral Home Guestbook Page.  Services arranged by Groveton Funeral Home, Directors.