Evie Jo Frederick

Austin - Evie Jo Frederick (nee Booker), born June 11, 1933, in Newton, Texas died Wednesday, March 6, from complications following a stroke she suffered in August, 2023. She was the third child (of four) of James Freeman Booker and Jewel Gilchriest Booker of Beaumont.

Jo is survived by numerous family and many friends residing in and around Austin, Texas. Many of her relatives remain in the East Texas area though her parents relocated the family from Newton to Beaumont during WWII.

Jo graduated with honors from South Park High School in 1950. She later completed her college degree with a BS in Secondary Education from what was then Lamar Tech and is now Lamar University. She taught Physical Education in Nederland and also in South Park and Forest Park in Beaumont. Later she earned an Administrative Certificate and then served as High School Counselor and also Assistant Principal in Beaumont, ending her administrative career in the Lake Travis School District.

Jo married Bobby Frederick in 1950 in First Baptist church of Beaumont. She and Bob had three children: Jana, married to Howard Morrison, Chris (of Fayetteville, GA), married to Beverly, and Dr. Kurt Frederick, now deceased, but married to Sue for 30 years prior to his death. Bob was a football and baseball coach at Lamar University in the 1960's and 1970's. Jo was the quintissential hostess, welcoming many friends, athletes, and coaches' families into she and Bob's home in Beaumont.

Always interested in music and folk songs, she was a gifted singer and charming people person. She and Bob hosted hootenannies in their home in Port Acres, Texas in the 1960's, resulting in her knowing every word to every song by artists ranging from Peter, Paul and Mary to Shirley Temple. She loved music and singing and contributed her alto voice to various choirs during her life.

Jo has been loved by many friends in the Westlake Bible Church/Austin Ridge Bible church family for over twenty five years. She was a woman of dynamic faith and taught Sunday School in a women's class at Austin Ridge for over twenty years. She is still loved by many of those friends. In June, her 90th birthday was celebrated by about one hundred friends and family who sang folk songs with her during a sing-along.

She will be missed by her family, including several grandchildren and great-grandchildren, as well as by her many good friends at the Continental Independent Living Community. She will be missed at the newly formed church at the Contintental, which Jo was involved in founding several years ago.

A memorial for Jo will be held at Austin Ridge Bible Church March 25, at 2 p.m. with a reception afterwards.

Her family is especially thankful to Rainier Hospice for their care in the last months, and to Melissa Saucedo of Melissa's House, where Jo was treated with care and affection in the last weeks of her life.