Dee Armour Kimbriel

DEE ARMOUR KIMBRIEL Dee Armour Kimbriel, died at the age of 87, Services will be 10:00am Tuesday, November 19, 2002 at Columbus Avenue Baptist Church in Waco. Her life was about people and beauty and strength. Born in Gonzales, Texas to Allie and James Leroy Armour, she spent most of her childhood in Yoakum, Texas. She was the youngest in a family of four girls. She grew up and fell in love with James Kimbriel, a tall, handsome Baylor athlete whose friends called him “cotton”. In 1939, the two Baylor graduates married beside the lily pond in her family’s garden. Her life for their next fifty years together was about making him shine. James Ralph Kimbriel was in every sense the center of her world. Her creativity blossomed in beautiful gardens, elegant dinners, and memorable trips. She fearlessly tackled just about anything.. from digging a six foot hole for a pecan tree to exploring the outer reaches of China. Her passion for sharing touched everyone that passed through her life. Dee had an insatiable curiosity. She led literally hundreds of people around the world and brought them home again with a new appreciation of other cultures. To her, there were no foreigners, only friends she had never met. Dee and Cotton have two daughters, Ann Secrest and Judy Odom. By her example, she taught them to always look to the future, to invest their lives in people, and to stop and focus on the beauty of the day. The Kimbriel family album is filled with her pictures of family, friends and flowers, and, to her, each was the most beautiful one. Dee is survived by her sister, Ann L. Armour of the Woodlands, Texas, and her daughters and their husbands, Ann and Jerry Secrest of Temple, Texas and Judy and Jim Odom of Lawton Oklahoma. She has four grandchildren, Jarrard Secrest of San Antonio, Jamey Secrest and his wife Jana of Temple, James Odom of Waco and Ashleigh Berry and her husband Jarett of Dallas. She has two great grandchildren, Preston and Tinsley Secrest of Temple. Her niece, Mary Jo Kidd and her husband O.A. live in Conroe, Texas. Columbus Avenue Baptist Church and the many clubs and organizations she enjoyed through the years brought lifelong friends into her path. Loyal friends that stayed by her right to heaven’s gate. Memorial contributions may be given to Baylor University, P.O. Box 97050 Waco, Texas 76798 WILKIRSON HATCH BAILEY