Jean Mengers, 90, of Waco, passed away Monday, August 21, 2023 as a result of injuries suffered in an automobile accident that occurred August 13, 2023. A Memorial Visitation will be held from 4:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. Friday, September 8, 2023 at Wilkirson-Hatch-Bailey Funeral Home in Waco, Texas.
Norma Jean Hopkins was born in Ouachita County, Arkansas, March 2, 1933.
Her parents were Charles Hopkin Sr. and Mattie Hopkins. She used Jean as her name all of her adult life. After high school graduation, she and her husband Bill Andrews moved to Washington, D.C. and worked for Arkansas Representative Oren Harris. Eventually she and her daughter Shelley moved back to Camden, Arkansas, where she worked at a rocket factory nearby. She relocated to Texarkana and began a 30-year career with the Texas Employment Commission. Many relocations followed until she moved to Austin. Texas in the early 1970's. She lived in Austin until 2004, when she relocated to Woodway, Texas. She was known as "MaMa Jean" to her many surrogate daughters. Jean enjoyed music, dancing, and decorating. She was noted for her elegant appearance, and the equal elegance of her home, and her property, she had a green thumb and was successful with her many and varied outdoor plants.
Jean was preceded in death by her parents, Charles Hopkins Sr. and her mother Mattie; her brothers, William, Jesse, and Charles Hopkins, Jr.; and her sisters, Lois and Gladys.
Survivors include her daughter, Shelley Carter of Austin, her granddaughter Lindsay Carter Frith, and husband, Joel Frith of Hayes, Kansas; her great-grandson, Owen Thomas Frith, born on August 13, 2023; her grandson, Grant Carter, also of Austin; Eloise Ross, her niece, and Burt Carter of Kyle; Jean is also survived by close friends Diana and Ron Prewitt of Bastrop, Faith and Bobby Perkins of Asheville, North Carolina, and Karen and Bill Stone of Austin, as well as many others in Arkansas, Woodway, and Austin; She is also survived by her special friend and dance partner Dwayne King of Woodway.
We invite you to leave a message or memory of Jean on our “Tribute Wall” at www.WHBfamily.com
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