Lucia Hartgrove Waggoner

WICHITA FALLS Lucia Hartgrove Waggoner passed away peacefully at home in Wichita Falls, Texas, on Wednesday, April 24, 2013, at the age of 77. A visitation will be held from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Friday, April 26, at Lunn's Funeral Home. Funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, April 27, at Floral Heights United Methodist Church with the Rev. David Turner officiating, followed by a burial in Riverside Cemetery. Lucia was born Dec. 1, 1935, in San Angelo, Texas, to Shultz and Louise Hartgrove. She spent the first nine years of her life on her family's ranch in Concho County surrounded by her brother, Gus, and her numerous, boisterous Hartgrove cousins. She attended church and school in Paint Rock, Texas. After her father passed away in 1945, the family moved into San Angelo. Lucia attended school in San Angelo until high school when she became a boarding student at The Hockaday School in Dallas. She graduated from Southern Methodist University, where she was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta sorority. Although she had been introduced to the love of her life, Dick Waggoner, at a party in Wichita Falls the previous spring, they met again the first day of their freshman year at SMU. They had their first date the following weekend and were never apart for the next 59 years. They married in November 1957, and moved to Wichita Falls in 1960. For many years, Lucia was deeply involved in the civic life of Wichita Falls and was a 50-year member of Floral Heights United Methodist Church and the 50-50 Sunday school class there. She was a longtime member of the Wichita Falls Junior League and was one of the primary forces in the early years of the Wichita Falls Museum and Art Center. She helped create the museum's Spring Fling arts fair and also the popular Mayfest Dance for graduating high school seniors. Lucia was an artist and lived a life surrounded by beauty. She loved paintings and sculpture and flowers and had a beautiful talent as a goldsmith and creator of jewelry influenced by ancient eras. Lucia and her daughter, Lysle Huddleston, formed the design company Lucia Lysle, that for years have produced beautiful handcrafted jewelry. Lucia was surrounded by many loving friends and was especially close to her lifelong group of friends from San Angelo known as the "Concho Pearls." She loved raising her family in Wichita Falls and was grateful to be in such a wonderful community of friends here. Most of all, she loved her family. She was cherished by her children and enjoyed near daily contact with all of them. Lucia is survived by her husband of 56 years, Richard Moore Waggoner; her children, Todd Waggoner and wife Courtney King Waggoner of Wichita Falls, Stacy Waggoner of New York City, Lysle Waggoner Huddleston and husband Keneth Huddleston of Wichita Falls, Arden Waggoner Stephenson and husband Eric Stephenson of New York City. She is also survived by her grandchildren, Andrew Vernon Steed Waggoner, Richard King Waggoner, Lily Jane Waggoner, Lucia Lane Huddleston, William Hartgrove Huddleston, Augusta Elizabeth Stephenson, Eric Carlton Stephenson Jr. and Jonathan Kane Stephenson. She is also survived by her brother, David Greenleaf and wife Carolyn; cherished in-laws Tommy and Marilyn Waggoner, John and Betsy Waggoner, Judy Waggoner Lambert, Kaye Greenleaf, Margaret Greenleaf; and numerous nieces and nephews. Lucia was preceded in death by her beloved parents, Shultz Augustus Hartgrove and Louise Walker Hartgrove Greenleaf; her loving stepfathers, Travis Baker and Kane Greenleaf; and her siblings, Gus Hartgrove, Harold Greenleaf, Mike Greenleaf and Vesta Kane. She was the epitome of grace and beauty and her signature resilience, eternal optimism and quiet faith will be greatly missed by all who knew her. Donations may be made to Floral Heights United Methodist Church or the Wichita Falls Area Community Foundation. Condolences may be sent to the family at lunnscolonial.com.