Eula M. Baugh

Eula Mae Tharp Baugh went to be with her Savior on the 29th of August 2007. She was a creative and compassionate woman and she will be dearly missed by her family and friends. Eula Mae was born in 1918 in Anna, Illinois to Rev. Ralph H. Tharp and Clara Hinson Tharp. Although her mother died when Eula Mae was two, she was blessed when her father married Edna Jane Glasscock who became her mother and truly shaped her life. Eula Mae was the oldest of five children. A beauty inside and out, Eula Mae met her loving husband while attending the University of Houston night school. They were an amazing team with an incredible love story that lasted for the 71 years of their marriage. As a team, they created a small frozen food company in the back bedroom of their home. Eula Mae took phone orders did bookkeeping and cared for their home and daughter while Johnny made deliveries and sales calls. When the little company grew, and a vision for a bigger company became reality, Eula Mae suggested the name Sysco Foods. Today, Sysco is the largest company of its kind in the world. The other owners of the original companies that became the Sysco Corporation were brave, visionary, honest people that were life-long friends to the entire Baugh family. Growing up as the child of a Baptist preacher, Eula Mae was mission minded from her earliest days. She spent her life serving others. She and Johnny helped churches around the world including places like Brazil, Europe and Africa and all over Texas. Because of her influence and generosity, buildings at Baptist Child and Family Services in San Antonio, Houston Baptist University, and Memorial-Hermann Hospital honor her name. The campuses at George W. Truett Theological Seminary at Baylor University and the new campus at The Baptist University of the Americas also carry the Baugh name. One of Eula Mae's most significant accomplishments was her special gift for teaching Sunday School. She began teaching as a teenager and taught for more than 60 years. Her research and methods of teaching were legendary. Her classes were fascinating as she studied 25 hours per week in order to thoroughly fulfill her calling. A spirit of adventure led Eula Mae to plan many travel excursions for her family. She and Johnny traveled all over the world from the North to the South Poles. She introduced a love of travel and learning about other cultures to her family. Their travel involved business, pleasure and mission work. Eula Mae has received some of the highest honors bestowed by Baylor University. She and Johnny were instrumental in creating Truett Seminary at Baylor. They were involved in many other philanthropic causes including Central Baptist Theological Seminary, Baptist University of the Americas, Mary Hardin Baylor University, Houston Baptist University, Baptist Child and Family Services, The Baptist Standard, The Associated Baptist Press, The Baptist Joint Committee and numerous works through the Baptist General Convention of Texas. Eula Mae and Johnny have one daughter, Barbara Nell (Babs) Baugh and two granddaughters, Jackie and Julie. Eula Mae made it her life's mission to provide love, laughter, music, fun, adventure, security and gentle Christian guidance to her three girls and her husband. She personified the qualities listed in the 31st chapter of Proverbs. Never could a life be lived more fully, more gracefully or more compassionately. Eula Mae lived her life as a servant to her God, her family, her friends and any person who needed her. A team to the last day on earth, her adoring husband, John F. Baugh preceded her to the Father by 25 weeks. Eula Mae is survived by her daughter, Babs Baugh and husband John Jarrett of San Antonio; her granddaughters Jackie Moore and husband Kim Moore of San Antonio and Julie Ortiz and husband Carlos Ortiz of Austin; her great grandchildren Sterling, Katie and Jake Moore and Breck and Alexa Mae Ortiz; sisters Evelyn Simons, Jo House, Charlotte Smith and brother Warren Tharp and many nieces and nephews and cherished friends. Friends are cordially invited to a visitation with the family from nine until eleven o'clock in the morning on Saturday, the 1st of September, at Geo. H. Lewis & Sons, 1010 Bering Drive. A funeral service will be conducted at two o'clock in the afternoon on Saturday, the 1st of September in the sanctuary of Tallowood Baptist Church, 555 Tallowood Drive in Houston, with the Rev. Dr. Duane Brooks and Rev. Dr. Daniel Vestal officiating. An orchestral prelude will begin fifteen minutes prior to two o'clock. Interment will follow, via an escorted cortege, at Forest Park Westheimer Cemetery, 12800 Westheimer Road in Houston. For those desiring, memorial donations may be made in Eula Mae's name to the Eula Mae and John Baugh Charitable Foundation, c/o Doug Chiles, 15329 Clevedon Lane, Houston, Texas 77040-1314; Baptist Child and Family Services, Attn: Dorothy Terrell, 909 Northeast Loop 410, Suite 800, San Antonio Texas 78209; Baylor University Alumni Association, One Bear Place, P.O. Box 97171, Waco, Texas 76798-7171; George W. Truett Theological Seminary, Baylor University; P.O. Box 97126, Waco, Texas 76798-7126. GEO. H. LEWIS & SONS Houston, TX 77057 (713) 789-3005