Drane Kendall Haw

Rosa Drane Kendall Haw died Friday, March 14, 2025, at home in Austin, Texas, just a few weeks after her 90th birthday, with her best friend Cynthia Swift and her daughter Hannah by her side. She leaves behind a world that was as invigorating and exciting to her as she herself was to so many of the people in it. As a member of her family once put it, “She was always the most interesting and the most interested person in the room.”

The funeral service will be held at 1:00 p.m. Saturday, April 5, at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Waco, with a reception to follow at 1503 Columbus Avenue. Don’t feel compelled to wear black; Drane would have much preferred you to celebrate her with color. Visitation will be from 4:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. Friday, April 4, at Wilkirson-Hatch-Bailey Funeral Home in Waco.

Drane was born in Philadelphia on February 23, 1935, to Sarah Brown Dossett Kendall and John Gray Kendall. She spent her early years split between Pottstown, Pennsylvania, where John Gray taught school, and summers and holidays with generations of her family in Waco. She loved Waco and spent the majority of her life there, among friends and extended family, except for short periods at boarding school and college, a brief stint in the Rio Grande Valley after she married, and when she moved to Austin 8 years ago to live near her daughter.

After graduating from The Hockaday School in Dallas, Drane earned her Bachelor of Arts in English at The University of Texas at Austin, where she was a member of the Texas Alpha Chapter of Pi Beta Phi. A proud Longhorn, UT cemented her lifelong love affair with language. Having grown up as the daughter of an English master at a boys’ boarding school, and being an English major herself, she had strong opinions on the subject and wasn’t shy about voicing them. Recent usage she took issue with included “grab,” as in “I’m going to grab my coat” (“sounds so aggressive!”); the greeting “hi, guys” (“I am not a guy”); and “no problem” as a reply to “thank you” (because “whatever happened to ‘you’re welcome’?”).

You might think Drane’s insistence on people choosing exactly the right words would rub people the wrong way. But it rarely did, just as her penchant for being perpetually late (or fashionably late, as she preferred to think of it) didn’t seem to bother most people in her orbit, either. Chalk it up to being so ingratiating that few could find it in their hearts to criticize. When she entered a room, eyes sparkling and a million-dollar smile on her face, all was forgiven. Always the socialite, she would seek out the most interesting person in the room, whom she would greet with a lively “Tell me all about yourself” or an even more enthusiastic “Tell me about your dog!”

Drane won the heart of a handsome young Air Force officer and soon-to-be lawyer, Alexander Montgomery “Sandy” Haw, who was stationed at James Connally Air Force Base in Waco. They went on their first date in 1955, on New Year’s Eve, since she wasn’t coy about accepting a last-minute invitation, and they married that October. It was the beginning of a 56-year adventure filled with family life, civic pursuits, travel, and a deep and abiding faith centered on St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Waco. Drane was such a staunch supporter of the Church that all of its bishops knew her by name. She was a member of the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America and was on the organization’s Town Committees in both Waco and Austin. She also belonged to the Junior Leagues of both cities.

In the prime of her life, Drane was an entrepreneur and writer devoted to joyous pursuits—which was, in fact, the name of her shop in Waco that she operated for many years and that became her base for discovering and launching interesting artists. Joyous Pursuits was also the name of the book she published when she was in her 70s, sharing the wit, wisdom, and faith she had collected her whole life.

Not long after Sandy’s death in 2013, Drane moved to Austin, where her daughter Hannah lives. In no time, she made many new and dear friends. She enjoyed life in Austin near her family with her beloved Taffy, her most recent canine companion, who passed away in 2022. Drane loved dogs with all her heart. She also loved, in no particular order, plants and flowers, white wine, folk art, Mexican dresses, traveling the world, hosting parties, letter writing, the player piano, meeting new people, and staying close to old friends.

Throughout her life, Drane dressed with style and flair, always wearing bright colors, lots of jewelry, and always a cross. She was an absolute presence who made new friends everywhere she went. Once she met you, you were destined to be connected for life. On vacations, if she met someone she found charming, she would take their picture and present them with a copy—either mailing it to them after getting the film developed in earlier years or, more recently, by texting it to them on the spot. She will be missed by many, many people, both within and far beyond the Dossett and Haw families. Family meant everything to her, and many of her cousins were her very best friends.

Drane was preceded in death by her parents, her precious Sandy, and her beloved sister Sally Bundy.

She is survived by her children, Sally Haw, Alec Haw and his wife Donna, and Hannah Haw Weldon and her husband Bill; her sister, Francie Kendall; and a host of cherished nieces, nephews, and cousins.

In lieu of sending flowers, please consider making a memorial contribution to St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Waco, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, or Fuzzy Friends Rescue in Waco.

We invite you to leave a message or memory of Drane in her online “Memorial Guestbook” at www.WHBfamily.com.