Frank Hartwell Leavell, Jr.

Leavell, Frank Frank Leavell, 76, passed away Saturday, April 30, 2005 at his residence. Services will be Thursday, May 5 at 10:00 AM at 7th and James Baptist Church with Dr. Raymond Bailey officiating. Burial will follow at Oakwood Cemetery. Visitation with the family will be from 6 to 8:00 PM Wednesday, May 4 at Wilkirson-Hatch-Bailey, 6101 Bosque. Dr. Leavell was born June 16, 1928 in Shelby County, Memphis, Tennessee. He was a baby when his family moved to Nashville where he spent his youth. He graduated from West End High School and entered Baylor University in 1946 and received a B.A. degree in 1950 and his M. A. degree in 1953. He married Marjory McNeal in September 1953 and taught English at Campbellsville College, in Kentucky from 1953 to 1955. He attended Southern Baptist Theological Seminary from 1952 to 1953 and from 1955 to 1956. He taught English at Louisiana College in Pineville from 1956 to 1960. He then returned to Nashville and earned a PH.D. degree in English at Vanderbilt University in 1965. He taught English from 1963 to 1965 at Kentucky Southern College in Louisville. In 1965, he joined the English Faculty at Baylor University and taught there for exactly 30 years before his retirement in 1995. In January 1979, he married Barbara Louise Wheeless Starr. He was a member of Seventh and James Baptist Church since 1965 and a deacon. He was a member of the Baylor Chamber of Commerce and Sigma Tau Delta, International English Honor Society. For 30 years he sponsored the Baylor chapter of Sigma Tau Delta and served on the National Board of Directors of Sigma Tau Delta for 15 years. He is survived by his wife, Barbara; daughter, Linda Carol Leavell and husband, Robert Brooks Garner of Stillwater, Oklahoma; son, Dr. Neal Leavell and wife Cheryl Diane Cherie Gahan Leavell of Lampasas; three granddaughters, Leigh Ann, Alyssa Diane and Laura Frances Leavell of Lampasas. Pallbearers will be Bill Cooper, Frank Newport, Chris Starr, Blake Burleson, Ron Stanke and Andy Moore. Honorary pallbearers will be Earl Newland, Frank Karaffa, Carleton Harrell, Johnny Newport, Brooks Garner and Tom Z. Parrish. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to 7th and James Baptist Church Building Fund or the American Cancer Society. The family invites you to leave a memory or message in our “Memorial Guestbook” at www.wilkirsonhatchbailey.com. Wilkirson-Hatch-Bailey