Julie Helen Lawson

Julie Helen Lawson January 15, 1927 - September 17, 2013 Julie Helen Lawson of Waco passed away Tuesday, September 17, 2013, at Stillwell Retirement Residence. Memorial Services will be 2:00 p.m., Friday, September 20 at Wilkirson-Hatch-Bailey Funeral Home Chapel. Julie was born on January 15, 1927, in Waxahachie, Texas. She was the youngest child of Mabel DeVaughan and Carl Young. She grew up in Waxahachie and attended schools there and in Dallas. She married Ray Cowger of Forth Worth and to this union one son, Michael Ray Cowger, was born. She was widowed at the age of 19 and next married Jack D. Ledbetter in 1948. They moved to Waco in 1953, just in time to experience the Waco tornado which they narrowly escaped. Following Jack's death in 1965, she returned to school to pursue a degree in nursing. In 1970, she married Ray Lawson, and in 1978, they moved to the Riesel area where they built a home on their ranch. They remained there until Ray's health began to fail, at which time they moved to Hewitt, where they remained until Ray's death in 2002. Mrs. Lawson received degrees from MCC, University of Mary Hardin-Baylor and Texas Woman's University. She was listed in the premier edition of Who's Who in American Nursing. In her long nursing career, she was employed at Scott & White Neonatal ICU Nursery, the Hillcrest Emergency Room, and was an instructor at MCC. She joined the Department of Veterans Affairs in Marlin in 1978, and remained there until her transfer to the Fort Lyon, Colorado, VAMC in 1985, where she was Chief of Nursing. During this period she was also a member of the adjunct faculty at Otero Junior College. She retired from the VA in 1990, and traveled around the country as a research assistant. From 1997 to 2003 she volunteered as a sexual assault nurse examiner for the Advocacy Center for Crime Victims. Mrs. Lawson was a member of Central Christian Church, Hamilton House and Daughters of the Nile. She was a past president of University High PTA, president of the United Methodist Women, Past Queen of Marek Temple and a member of the Hillbilly Clan of Karem Shrine and the Kokopelli Club. She loved to read, play bridge and dance. Besides her husbands, Mrs. Lawson was preceded in death by a son, Michael Cowger; and her brother, Carl Wilburn Young. She is survived by two sons, Rick Ledbetter and wife, Patricia, of Valley Mills, and Scott Ledbetter and wife, Rosemary, of Manchaca; a step-daughter, Jean Williams and husband, Wayne, of Gatesville; step-son, Robert Lawson and wife, Pauline, of West; eight grandchildren, 11 great grandchildren and 3 great great grandchildren. The family would like to give a special thanks to our mother's primary caregiver, Gloria Stonum. Memorials may be made to the Shriners Hospital for Children, 400 Karem Circle, Waco, Texas 76712, or the Nursing Scholarship Fund at Mary Hardin-Baylor, in Belton, Texas. The family invites you to leave a message or memory in our "Memorial Guestbook" at www.WilkirsonHatchBailey.com. Wilkirson-Hatch-Bailey