Mildred Faye Hollifield

Mildred Faye Buck Hollifield, mother, grandmother, sister, teacher, and friend, passed away on Thursday, August 31, 2017. Funeral services will be held 2 p.m., Saturday, September 9, at Wilkirson-Hatch-Bailey Funeral Home, 6101 Bosque Boulevard, Waco, Texas. The family will receive friends at a visitation 6:00-8:00 p.m., Friday, September 8, at Wilkirson-Hatch-Bailey Funeral Home. Mildred was born November 4, 1939, in Banner Elk of Avery County, North Carolina. She was a 1959 graduate of Cranberry High School in Elk Park, North Carolina. She attended Lees McRae’s College from 1959-61, and graduated St. Andrews Presbyterian College in 1963. She spent over 40 years as a high school and junior high school teacher. She resided in Copperas Cove, Texas, from 1974 to 2011, where she taught 7th grade English during most of her tenure. Mildred had spent the last six years as a resident of the Stilwell Retirement Residence in Waco, Texas, where she served as their librarian. Mildred was preceded in death by her parents, Roy Vesper Buck, Sr., and Estella Amanda Caraway Buck; and sister, Lillian Bell (Buck) Gutzke. She is survived by her son, Larry David Hollifield, Jr., and wife, Sheryl; grandson, Ryan; and granddaughter, Kaitlyn, of Bastrop, Texas; her son, Kenneth Allen Hollifield; grandsons, Commerce, Gains, and Price, of Murphy, Texas; brother, Roy Vesper Buck, Jr., and his wife, Mary Ann, of Oak Ridge, North Carolina, and their children, John Clint Buck and wife, Jamie, and daughter, Lillian, Christopher Ray Buck, and Sarah Amanda Buck; and sister, Kathern Sue Buck Hollifield of DeRidder, Louisiana. Mildred will be cremated following the services as part of her wishes. We will have a service in Avery County, North Carolina, during the Thanksgiving Holiday. The place and time will be announced. Her ashes will be spread among the trees that she so loved. In lieu of flowers, the family is asking that a donation be made to support reforestation with the Arbor Day Foundation (https://shop.arborday.org/donate-general.aspx) or to the Stilwell Retirement Residence library. Books may also be donated to the library in large print format. Please contact Executive Director Joel Wright, 254-772-4644. The family invites you to leave a message or memory on our “Tribute Wall” at www.WHBfamily.com.