Lyska Placette

Lyska Ann Cawley Placette, 78, slipped into the hands of our Lord on Sunday, January 21, 2018 in San Antonio. She was born on March 9, 1939 in Lufkin, to Willie Margaret Walker Hambrick and Marion Samuel Hambrick and was a lifelong resident of Jefferson County.

Mom married Wesley Don Cawley at age eighteen and became a wife, homemaker, and office manager for her husband’s business. When she was called as a teenager into ministry, Mom didn’t know exactly what that would entail. At sixteen, Mom began teaching children in Sunday School. She taught children for the next fifty years. Mom flourished as a Sunday School teacher and leader at Woodcrest Mission alongside her mother-in-law, Exia Cawley. To prepare herself for this challenge, Mom visited Pastor Lee who ran a mission in Port Arthur. As a teacher, she was firm, but loving. It was here, Mom gathered and shared handcrafts with the women. She brought groceries, clothing, and toys to families in need.

When the mission and surrounding apartments were demolished. Mom continued teaching Sunday School and Vacation Bible School at First Baptist in Port Neches and Nederland. She often could be heard saying, “We must reach the children first. Only then, will the church grow.” With this in mind, she and our father contributed funds to build the playground at First Baptist Church in Port Neches. It is difficult to know just how many lives she led to the Lord over the years.

Later in life, Mom taught and created adult Bibles Studies while attending First Baptist in Nederland, including Old Testament and New Testament survey courses.

Mission support was important to her and she taught mission outreach and gave faithfully to support local and foreign missions.

She often stated, one of her greatest accomplishments was tutoring various family members and enjoyed making learning fun.

As important as teaching was to mother, so was learning. As her hours and jobs slowly began to increase at

C & D Machine, she wanted to learn more about bookkeeping and accounting. Fearful that it had been ten years since she’d been to college, she started back at South Park night school for bookkeeping. She declared this is easy and went on to take college level classes in Office Administrative and Accounting at the time her two oldest were in college and thrived on the challenge. In addition, she took college level seminary classes.

While this was going on, Mom was still raising children, taking them back and forth to piano and dance lessons. She would only work during school hours and made sure our father knew that. She loved being a grandmother and provided countless hours of babysitting, meals cooked, and soothed crying and hurt hearts and bodies. Mom was proud of each one. Her grandchildren loved her in return.

She nursed her father with cancer, her mother, and two brothers, whom she desperately loved. Mom also opened her home multiple times to children and adults during the tough times, allowing them to live with her until they were back on their feet. There are few Christians who demonstrate Christ’s love, compassion and sacrifice as much as our mother.

Mom remarried at age sixty-two and cared for her late husband, Cecil Placette in her home tirelessly until it became too difficult for her. When he was admitted to the nursing home, she went daily to ensure he was cared for, as well as others in the nursing home. She called Cecil “her ministry” until his death.

Her culinary skills fed her family well. In addition, Mom used her skills in the kitchen to provide for others who were ill or in grief. Often making not just one dish, but an entire meal. She crafted delicious, holiday meals for the entire crew for C & D Machine for years.

Mom was truly a virtuous woman.

Survivors include her children, Clifton Cawley and his wife, Karen, of Nederland; Donna Cawley Erickson of Port Neches; Carmen Cawley Fong and her husband, Steve, of San Antonio; and Rebecca Cawley of San Antonio; grandchildren, Jennifer Cawley, Patrick Huffstetler, Jena Aldredge, Matthew Fong, David Fong, and Alee Eisman; great-grandchildren, Paul Aldredge, Lukas Aldredge, and Noah Aldredge; and numerous nieces and a nephew.

She was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Cecil Anthony Placette; and brothers, Donald Fred Hambrick and Paul Ray Hambrick.

A gathering of Mrs. Placette’s family and friends will begin at 9:00 a.m., followed by her funeral service at 11:00 a.m., Saturday, January 27, 2018, at Broussard’s, 505 North 12th Street, Nederland. A private family burial will be held at a later time at Oak Bluff Memorial Park, Port Neches.