Lorraine Gallant Beard

Lorraine Gallant Beard died Saturday, December 30,2006, age 81. She was born August 6,1925, in Latexo, Texas, to David S. and Wessie Bowman Gallant.

After graduating from Latexo High School in 1942, she moved to Houston where she attended Draughon Business College. Upon graduation, she began her career in banking at the Houston Federal Reserve Bank.

During those early years, Lorraine lived in Mrs. Crocker's boarding house at 204 Marshall Street. There she met several other young working women who became lifelong friends and still refer to themselves as "The Crocker Girls."

After her marriage in 1951, she took several years off from her banking career to raise her son and daughter.

She returned to work at the Houston Federal Reserve Bank when her children were teenagers, and worked until her retirement in 1989. She became a member of the bank's 25- Year Club, and when she attended its meetings, she was able to renew and maintain the fond friendships she had with co-workers.

Lorraine was a resident of ElIa Lee Forest for almost 50 years where she had many wonderful friends who shared her love of gardening.

She was a member of Houston's First Baptist Church and the Maranatha Sunday School Class. She was very appreciative of her church friends who were a source of great comfort in her later years.

Lorraine was preceded in death by her parents, David S. and Wessie Bowman Gallant, and a nephew, Gary Wayne Spence.

She is survived by one son, Paul Allen Beard and wife Susan of Pine Bluff, Arkansas; a daughter, Karen Beard Jones and husband Michael Temple of Houston; two granddaughters, Lisa Beard Purdum and husband Jason of Houston and Crystal Brook Beard of Star City, Arkansas; one brother, Dr. David Samuel Gallant of Latexo, Texas; one sister, Jimmie Edwina Gallant Spence and husband C.B. of Missouri City, Texas; one nephew, John Wesley Spence and wife Belinda of Sugarland, Texas; one niece Kristen Spence Turner and husband Michael of Manvel, Texas. One step great-granddaughter and three great-nieces also survive.

Funeral services will be held on Wednesday, January 3, 2007, in the Chapel of Houston's First Baptist Church at 10:00 a.m., with visitation beginning at 9:00 a.m. Burial will follow in the Latexo Cemetery, Latexo, Texas at 3:00 p.m. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, P.O. Box 4486, Houston, TX 77210, or the Latexo Baptist Church, P.O. Box 1007, Latexo, TX, 75849.