ROXANNA SUE CONNALLY MCMULLEN

Joyful best describes the life of Roxanna Sue Connally McMullen, 89. Roxanna was born in Fort Worth, Texas, on Sept. 29, 1930, and she graduated to heaven on November 13, 2019. She died peacefully in her sleep.

Roxanna was born to mother Ruby Edna McBride and father Gordon Kennon Connally. She spent her elementary school years in Groesbeck, Texas, where her father (and uncle) owned and operated the Connally Furniture Store that dealt in furniture and caskets. In Roxanna’s early junior high years, the family moved to Waco where the brothers founded and operated the Connally Funeral Home that served much of Central Texas.

During Roxanna’s junior high and high school years, the family joined the Central Christian Church in Waco. It was there that Roxanna gave her life to Jesus, and it was in that church that she trusted in Him as her Savior and as the Lord of her life. She was earnest about her faith and followed her belief in Christ with a Believer’s baptism. Roxanna attended Waco High School and after graduation, she enrolled into Baylor University as a pre-med student with the hope of becoming a medical missionary. During her junior year at Baylor, Roxanna met the love of her life, Faber F. McMullen Jr., and she curtailed and postponed her studies to marry him and move with him to Houston where he began his medical practice.

As young marrieds, the couple moved to Bellaire where they had three children; Lela Susan McMullen, Faber Francis McMullen III, and Rosemary Marice Mc-Mullen. While her husband practiced medicine, Roxanna worked part-time for many years as a medical technologist. This skill was essential when Roxanna co-founded the Crea Clinic in Houston in the wake of the Vietnam War. With her husband, she charitably attended to the needs of the thousands of Southeast Asian refugees who flooded into the greater Houston area at no cost.

Roxanna was intent in teaching her children to love Jesus, to understand the power of prayer, and to value the Bible as the roadmap for their lives. She discipled her children by example with much love and devotion. While rearing and schooling her children, Roxanna found time to finish earning her bachelor’s degree at Dominican College in Houston. In her late sixties, she and her husband purchased a farm in Navasota where they enjoyed the pleasures of farm life for many long weekends raising and working livestock together. During that time, Roxanna and her husband gifted the McMullen-Connally Faculty Center to her beloved Baylor University. Upon her husband’s death at the farm in 2009, she moved to Denton to be near her youngest daughter, Rosemary McMullen Poe, who was her primary caregiver during the last 10 years of her life.

During her time back in North Texas, Roxanna enjoyed many outings with her children to nearby Fort Worth, where she had been born. She delighted in showing them where she had spent her early childhood, and one of her great favorites was the Fort Worth Stockyards. Roxanna was forever delighted at the change of seasons surrounding her residence at the Good Samaritan Society - Lake Forest Village. As she transitioned through her care at the facility, she was always delighted to show off her “new apartment”. Roxanna’s life was filled with the joy of the Lord and she was a kind and merciful presence to all with whom she made contact. In her last days, she was filled with excitement as she readied herself for her last great adventure, her trip to heaven.

Roxanna glowed and her eyes twinkled as she talked of being reunited with her parents, her husband, and a multitude of cousins with whom she had spent her happy childhood. She was loving. She was joyful. She was giving. She was kind. She was patient. She was a beautiful reflection of her Savior Jesus with whom she now rests and forever rejoices. Words cannot describe how much she will be missed by those who knew her and loved her.

Funeral services will be held 10:00 a.m. Saturday, November 23, 2019, at Union Grove Baptist Church of Whitehall, 15301 FM 362 in Navasota (flowers to be sent to the church). A BBQ luncheon will be served to all guests after the service. Roxanna’s earthly remains will be buried with her husband at Woodlawn Cemetery, 1101 Antoine Drive in Houston, Texas.

She is survived by her three children: Lela McMullen Newsom (Robert), Faber F McMullen III (Sandy), and Rosemary McMullen Poe (Steve); 7 grandchildren: Kelly Newsom Hanscom (Nick), Russell Newsom (Tara), Stephanie Newsom Koopmann (Jason), Faber Francis McMullen IV, Katherine Lorraine McMullen, Alexander Connally McMullen (Hillary), Adriana Poe, and one great-grand child, Freya Nicole McMullen (daughter of Alexander and Hillary).