Laura Fanning
Laura Fanning
SAINT JO — Funeral service for Laura Lee (Brown) Fanning, age 97, of Marble Falls will be held at 2 p.m. at Saint Jo Church of Christ on Sunday, Sept. 22. Burial to follow at Perryman Cemetery in Forestburg. Visitation will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 21, at Scott Funeral Home in Saint Jo.
Laura was born on March 16, 1922, in Ross. When she was born her mother, Carolina Susan (Sue) (Hale) Brown, went blind for about six-weeks. They hadn’t named their baby girl yet and her father, John A. Brown, started calling her “Totsie”. She would go by this nickname the rest of her life.
When her mother regained her sight, she realized that this baby needed a proper name and named her Laura Lee. She had one sister, Noase Elwee (Dollie), two brothers: Fred Burns and Jim D. Brown.
She was raised on an oil lease located between Iowa Park and Burkburnett. When she was 17, her family moved to Arkansas. It was there she met and married her first husband, Garland Earwood. They had one daughter together, Jeri Sue (Earwood) Douglas on Dec. 21, 1940. Laura, Jeri and her parents moved to Corpus Christi in January of 1941.
In February of 1947 she married Henry Earl Fanning and he had two daughters from a previous marriage, Martha Mae and Elva Jenell. Together they had Dennis Earl, John Michael, Kevin Lee and Tami Melissa.
In 1971 they moved to Muenster, and she lived there for 45 years. She enjoyed attending church, cooking, sewing, quilting, crocheting, taking care of her family and get togethers with family and friends.
When she couldn’t care for herself in her own home, she moved in with her daughter, Tami, and son-in-law, Bill in Nocona in 2016. They then moved to Marble Falls in July of this year and that’s where she lived out the rest of her days. She enjoyed telling jokes, Brer Rabbit stories to the kids and loved to laugh!
She always said, “At my funeral you need to play “Cotton-Eyed Joe” and if I don’t get up and dance you will know that I am gone.”
She passed away on Thursday, Sept. 19, 2019, surrounded by loving family members.
She was a beloved wife, mother, grandmother (Nanny), great grandmother and great-great grandmother! She raised 7 children, had 20 grandchildren, 23 great grandchildren and 28 great-great grandchildren.