Funeral services for Mercedes Evelyne Hart Knierim, 88, of Beaumont will be held Saturday, December 5, 2009 at 11:00 a.m. in the Claybar Kelley-Watkins Funeral Home Chapel with Reverend Larry Walker officiating. Interment will follow at Forest Lawn Cemetery. Visitation will be Friday, December 4, 2009 from 5:00-7:00 p.m. at the funeral home.
Daughter of Andrew Webster Hart, Sr. and Doris Stowe Daniels Hart, Mercedes passed away Wednesday, December 2, 2009 in Beaumont, Texas. She was a native of the Southeast Texas area born in Sour Lake on February 25, 1921. After graduating valedictorian from Sour Lake High School, Mercedes went on to become a proud graduate of THE University of Texas B.S. in Home Economics and the University of Houston M.Ed.. She was a career teacher first at Sour Lake High School; then, in Beaumont, at Dowling Jr. High, French Elem., Longfellow Elem., Lucas Elem., and Austin Jr. High. She was a charter member of the Eta Lambda Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma, a society of key women educators.
On February 17, 1943, Mercedes married Leon Lukenbill of Tyler, who later died in World War II. She married Albert Knierim of Saratoga December 2, 1949. She and Albert retired from Beaumont ISD in 1980 and enjoyed years of traveling in the U.S. and abroad. Mercedes was a demure woman who loved her church the dear ladies of the Philathea/Sarah Sunday School class, family, and friends.
Mercedes is preceded in death by her husband, Albert C. Knierim, brothers Webster, Jr. and Wallace Hart, and sister Frances Stowe Anthony.
She is survived by daughters Jane Lukenbill Roddy of Tyler, Ann Knierim of Beaumont, grandsons Andrew Roddy of Seattle, Washington, Sean Roddy of Austin, sisters-in-law Billie Dean Noack of Fallon, Nevada, Dorothy Knierim of Lufkin, Bettie Davenport and husband Clyde of Tyler and many nieces, nephews, and friends.
Serving as pallbearers will be grandsons Andrew Roddy and Sean Roddy and nephews Webster Hart III, Lyle Duncan, Frank Duncan, Frank Anthony, John Knierim, James Albert Knierim, and Dan Barrow.
Friends who wish may direct memorial contributions to First Baptist Church, 900 Calder, Beaumont, Texas 77701, Harbor Hospice, 2450 Major Dr., Beaumont, Texas 77713, or The Humane Society of Southeast Texas, P.O. Box 1629, Beaumont, Texas 77704.