Buena Rae "Bunny" Thomas McWhorter

Buena Rae (Bunny) Thomas McWhorter was born in the same community, called Gribble Springs and located eight miles north of the Denton County Courthouse, Denton, Texas, in which her parents’ first five children were born; others being Wendell, Wanda, Jessie and James. The younger two were Rachel, born in Denton, and Sandy, born in Orange, California. Bunny’s mother, Buena Browning Thomas, named her Vanesa Rae Thomas; but her father, James Wylie (Buster) Thomas, had always wanted one of his daughters to be named for his wife, and he thought the third daughter would surely be the last, therefore he wrote in Buena in front of the other two names. Until she was four years old the family members called her Buena Rae, but when her brother, just two years younger, began to talk, he first called her Boonie, which later turned into Bunny. Most people did not realize Bunny had any other name until she had to give her official name when she enrolled in college.

The family lived off and on in that same farm house in the Gribble Springs Community, just north of the Clear Creek Bridge, until her parents began working for what was then called Consolidated Aircraft in Fort Worth during WWII. At that time so many men were in the military that others, both men and women, were encouraged to build the aircraft needed for battle, and her parents joined the effort. The children were taken to their maternal grandparents, who at the time lived on a farm which is now the area which includes Denton Crossing on Loop 288 in East Denton. Bunny went to the first grade at Mayhill Elementary where she first learned to play on the seesaw and merry-go-round, and where shelearned she loved to go to school. Her parents the next year moved the family to Fort Worth where she and her siblings were thrilled to have the family’s first brand new refrigerator and to have their first experience of living in town. She remembered her days at Castleberry Elementary fondly even though she was there only six months. There she was introduced to Grapette and the school’s wonderful light chocolate cookies. During the middle of Bunny’s second grade, her father finally convinced her mother to agree to move the family to Orange, California, where his four sisters had one at a time moved over the years, and where his parents had finally moved. Bunny spent most of her childhood in that wonderful town with the beautiful plaza in the middle. She walked the streets, played find-me in the orange groves, spent hours on the playgrounds playing kickball and building playhouses under the pepper trees and making lifelong friends. It was at a Church Camp in Southern California under thedirection of a Child Evangelist, Ernie Franklin, that Bunny first understood who Jesus was and what He had done for the human race. She asked Him to come into her life and be her constant companion. Bunny loved physical activity and sports of all kinds, and Orange offered an excellent physical education program which helped to shape her life.

After living seven years in Orange, the family was struck by tragedy. Bunny’s father battled colon cancer until it became obvious that he would not live. At that time Bunny’s parents decided it would be best if her mother could be near her parents so they could help her in the days ahead, so they moved the family back to Denton to live with their maternal grandparents until their father could get the family a place to live. Bunny’s father was a bridge construction foreman at a time when roads were being built in California at a phenomenal rate. Her father’s employer wanted him on the job at any time he felt well enough, so he went back to Orange to work until he was physically unable to continue. He died there in July of 1953. 

Bunny finished the ninth grade in Denton at Denton Junior High School. Even though the family had moved back into the Gribble Springs Community at that time, she started Denton High School until the middle of her sophomore year. Her friends at the Gribble Springs Baptist Church began talking to her about school at Sanger, where she was supposed to be attending anyway. Because her sister wanted to graduate from Denton High School, her mother thought it would be best for Bunny to continue there also until her sister graduated, but after much begging by Bunny and the younger siblings, her mother allowed Bunny to transfer to Sanger at midterm. Her church life at the Gribble Springs Baptist Church, the friends there and her school life at Sanger High School brought back joy into Bunny’s life after a year of grieving the loss of her friends in Orange. Even though life in the early fifties was still hard for most families, school life in a small Texas high school was something to be remembered. Classes were small, there were no strangers because most had been together since the first grade, and newcomers were welcomed. Bunny felt close to her schoolmates, teammates, and especially her classmates throughout her life.

Bunny never expected to attend college because of family finances, but her high school English teacher, Mrs. Dickey, insisted that there was no way Bunny was not going to attend college. Mrs. Dickey encouraged her husband, who was the Registrar at North Texas State University, to make a job for Bunny and managed to get her a small scholarship. She started college just days after graduating from Sanger High School in May, 1955. Her college days were rough because she had to be working all hours she was not in classes. She lived with her grandmother in Denton and had to walk from the Morrison Milling Company area to the NTSU campus. During those years she learned to greatly love and appreciate her Grandmother Browning, whose faith in Christ was like a rock. Because it was recommended, she majored in Business Education even though she did not intend to teach. After graduation she and a lifelong college friend, plus another acquaintance, moved into an apartment inDallas where Bunny became a secretary at Mobile Oil Company. She did not enjoy life in the Big City, especially apartment life, even though she loved being with her friend; so when her friend married, Bunny moved back to Denton and began to commute to Dallas. Because of the tragic death of the husband of another of Bunny’s friends and her friend’s subsequent depression, the friend was told by her doctor that she needed to get out of the house and become physically active again. Bunny told the friend that the prescription sounded like fun to her, but the friend just could not manage to do so on her own. Bunny asked the friend what she enjoyed most doing physically, and the friend chose bowling, so they began to frequently bowl. There Bunny met her future husband, Joe McWhorter, and her friend became reacquainted with a high school friend who became her second husband. Joe and Bunny were married September 24, 1960, lived in Lewisville, TX, for eight years and in Denton for two. Bunny’s brother, at that time, had started his own building business. He showed each of his siblings how they could manage to get funding for a home which he could build. Joe and Bunny had Wendell build their home on fifteen acres on FM 2153, a half mile off FM 2164, next to Joe’s aunt and cousins. There they raised their children and lived until Joe’s death in May, 2015.

Their three children, Joe Darrell, Rebecca Rae (Becky), and Timothy Brent attended school at Sanger with all but three of their eighteen maternal cousins. It was a difficult time for a working mother of three, but Bunny said later that it was a great time. Her family was close, and she and her siblings were determined to keep their children close. During the years her children were in school, Bunny decided to try teaching so she could be home with the children during the summers. It seemed there were no business teaching jobs open at the time, but one of the assistant superintendents in Grapevine recognized Bunny from her basketball playing days and assured her she would make a very good physical education teacher. It was two weeks before the start of school and they desperately needed an elementary physical education teacher since they were required to offer elementary physical education starting that Fall. Bunny accepted, and he applied for an emergency certificate in order for her to be eligible to teach the subject. Later she took courses at both NTSU, (now UNT), and TWU in order to get her permanent certificate. She also took courses in biology so that she would be eligible to teach Life Science to seventh graders. She taught physical education in Grapevine for two years, then two at Robert E. Lee in Denton, after which she was transferred to Congress/Calhoun Jr. High where she taught for twenty years, retiring in 1992. She remembered fondly her teaching colleagues, students and memorable teaching events for the rest of her life.

During retirement Bunny and Joe built a large greenhouse, and growing plants in the greenhouse became one of Bunny’s most enjoyable experiences. During her early retirement days Bunny’s children brought nine grandchildren into the family: Jacob, Ross, and Michael McWhorter (mother Carol), Payton and Max McWhorter (mother Robin), two step granddaughters were added: Lauren and Jessica Fagala (mother Lori) and, and Krista and Kayla Askey (father Phillip). Being with her grandchildren outdoors was one of the delights of Bunny’s life.

Her daughter’s family spent a total of four years in a little village in Mexico as supervisors of a Christian Children’s Home. After three years the older daughter was to return to the States to attend college at Dallas Baptist University. The younger daughter became fearful of having to live without her sister because they were very close, therefore Bunny’s daughter and son-in-law allowed her to stay with Bunny and Joe and attend Sanger High School. Bunny greatly enjoyed this period of time and felt as if she had somehow repaid her own grandmother for her years in college. She had told her grandmother that she would probably never be able to repay her. Her grandmother told her that she could repay her by doing something helpful for another. 

At 86 Bunny’s mother began to deteriorate. Until that time she insisted on cooking the meals for all the family’s holidays and attending as many of her grandchildren’s school and church events as possible. When Bunny’s mother reached the age of 90, the family convinced her to move in with Joe and Bunny. Her five daughters took care of her until her death at 93 on Thanksgiving Day, 2002, right after all the family except her daughters had left. Bunny found out in August, 2002, that she had breast cancer and began a 23-year battle. She had just finished radiation treatment five days before her mother’s death. Bunny was in remission for eight years, after which a metastasized tumor showed up in one lung, theneighteen months later in the other. Bunny went through five weeks of regular radiation treatment, after which she again went into remission, but not for long. She went through another newer type of radiation for the second lung tumor, which only showed a slight effect on the tumor. No more radiation was recommended, and Bunny refused chemotherapy throughout her cancer experience. Bunny used natural treatments and kept active by walking and participating in water aerobics with her sister, Jessie, which greatly aided in her health. On December 7, 2013, Bunny was outside enjoying a very rare 6 – 8-inch snow. She stepped onto a slick spot, fell and broke her left hip. With much help from her daughter, her daughter’s family, her sister Jessie, and other family members she recuperated and was able to walk again. In May, 2014, her oncologist announced to her that her third tumor had disappeared. During those years Joe’s health began to deteriorate. Their daughter, Becky, took him toseveral doctors trying to find out what was happening to her father. Finally, he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and fought it for a total of five years. However, it was a massive stroke which took his life in May, 2015. The broken hip continued to give Bunny much pain until she had a full hip replacement in December, 2016. This was the main reason she decided to sell their home place of 45 years one year after Joe’s death. She moved next door to her sister, Jessie, on FM 2164 in a manufactured house for 5 years.

During the years Joe was sick with Parkinson’s disease and during her life on 2164, Bunny’s grandchildren finished high school and college. Jacob married Hannah and gave us Lydia, Judah, and Eden; Lauren married Landon Wilson and gave us Hayley, Austin and Riley; Ross married Courtney and gave us Avery; Krista married Blaine Corbitt, and gave us Ava, Nora, Jude and Jack; Jess married Travis Maner and gave us Josie, and Michael married Sarah and gave us Adeline and Brooks.

Buena Rae (Bunny) McWhorter died on December the 5th with family surrounding her in her apartment located in Decatur Texas.

For the remainder of the online memorial Bunny will be referred to as Rae, because that is what she was known as to her Bible study friends. After Rae accepted Christ as her savior at age 10, she attended Sunday school and church services at a Free Methodist church, then a small Baptist country church. Rae was always thankful to both these groups for teaching her Bible stories and for keeping her focused on the teachings of Jesus. However, she began as a young woman to question many of the teachings of traditional Christianity which seemed cruel and unlike a loving Heavenly Father. Even though she prayed for answers, it was not until years later at age 45 that she received the answers to her questions.

She learned that the Heavenly Father has a most wonderful plan for the human race. Throughout the time before the flood, the patriarchal age, the Jewish age and the gospel age the Heavenly Father has been giving mankind lessons in sin and selfishness. The past six thousand years have been a period of the permission of evil in order for the members of the human race to learn how life would be without the Father in control. We are now in a transitional period between the gospel age and the Messianic age, which could be called “a harvest period.” Soon Messiah will announce His leadership, and the human race will fully enter that wonderful Messianic age. Rae learned that there are two resurrections.The first resurrection will be a resurrection of the just who will be raised up as spirit beings as Jesus was raised up. Then there will be a second resurrection of the unjust. These will be raised up as human beings just as we are now. That resurrection is called a resurrection unto judgement. The gospel age is the age when those running the race for the prize of the high calling are being tested. But the rest of mankind will have their testing during the Messianic age. She learned God loves each and every one of Adam’s race. He has not condemned over eighty percent to be cast into some burning inferno to be tortured forever. When Rae became aware of God’s plan her heart sang with joy, and peace filled hermind.

God has set aside the Gospel Age for the forming of His church with His only begotten son, Jesus, at the head of the church (John 13:13 and 19-20; Acts 17:31; I Tim.2:3-6.) This group will be The Great Messiah which will lead the world of mankind back to their God during the Messianic Age (II Pet.3:10-13.) Rae learned that the actual Earth will endure forever, but that these scriptures refer to the social order on the Earth. This social order will be completely destroyed and another set up in its place.

The second death will have no power over those of the first resurrection (the church), but will have power over those of the second resurrection (the world of mankind.) Rae also learned the KJV has a mistranslation of the Greek word “crisis,” which does not mean “damnation,” but rather “judgment.” This second group, the world of mankind, will be awakened from death, by Messiah, during a period in which they will be judged according to how they receive Messiah as King and Judge (John 5:26-29.) The prophet Isaiah, (Isaiah 35), teaches us that people will begin to walk up a highway of holiness during the Messianic Age, but only those who continue on the highway learning God’s ways will be allowed to keep living (Rev.20:4-6.) (Verse 5 is spurious, which means that it is not in the early manuscripts and is highly questionable.) Anyone who breaks away from that highway will suffer second death, which is the same as first death, which is oblivion (Acts 3:23 and Heb.10:26.) The one difference is that there is a resurrection from the first death. There will be no resurrection from the second death (Rev.20:13-15.) Only those that reach human perfection will be allowed to pass completely over that highway. But God’s wonderful plan includes priests and teachers (The Church) who will lovingly guide the people and teach them how to live Godly lives.

Rae received the knowledge of this, God’s true plan for the human race, with great joy. She continued in the study of the Bible and God’s Divine Plan of the Ages until her death.

A Celebration of Life for Bunny will be held on Saturday, December 20th, at 10:00 AM in First Baptist Church of Sanger, Texas.

In honor of Rae's tenure in education, please make memorial donations to the Sanger Education Foundation, https://SangerEducationFoundation.org

Please offer your condolences to the McWhorter family in our online guestbook.