Cecile Truitt

Cecile Truitt

October 6, 1938 - August 1, 2023

Dr. Cecile Butts Truitt went to be with her Heavenly Father on August 1, 2023, at 12:43 a.m. MST in Tucson, Arizona, after struggling with complications from Alzheimer's disease/dementia. She had only recently moved to Tucson from Waco five months earlier to be near her daughter, Catherine. 

A graveside service will be held at Oakwood Cemetery in Waco, Texas, on Friday, August 11, at 9:30 a.m. Then a memorial service will be held at 11 a.m., at First Methodist Church, Waco, with Rev. Ryan Barnett officiating. All are invited to a reception at the church afterwards. Visitation will be on Thursday, August 10, from 5 to 7 p.m., at OakCrest Funeral Home, 4520 Bosque Boulevard, Waco, Texas.

Cecile was born October 6, 1938, at St. Mary's Infirmary in Galveston, Texas, to Charles King and Narceille Marshall Butts. Cecile grew up in Galveston and then moved to Alta Loma (now Santa Fe), Texas when she was 9 years old. She graduated from Santa Fe High School in 1956, where she was a charter member of the Santa Fe High School band, playing first chair clarinet. She then went to Lamar State College of Technology (now Lamar University), where she lived with her grandparents for $40 a month and majored in math with a minor in English, continuing to play clarinet in the band. She received a teaching assistantship at Purdue University in Indiana, where she received her Master's degree in math and met her husband Jim, who was working on his Master's degree in economics.

After both of them finished their Master's degrees, Jim and Cecile got married on August 25, 1962, and then moved to Champaign, Illinois, to get their Ph.D.'s at the University of Illinois in their respective disciplines. 

In 1965, Jim took a job at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, and Cecile taught there part-time. Their daughter, Susan was born during their time there. Then in 1968, they moved to Waco, Texas where Jim had taken a job teaching in the Department of Economics and Finance at Baylor University. They visited First Methodist Church because it was the closest to their house, and they decided to join. Their daughter, Catherine was born in Waco a few months later. Cecile started teaching mathematics part-time at Baylor in the fall of 1969. She decided not to teach full-time so that she could be more involved in raising Susan and Catherine. She also helped with Bluebirds and Campfire Girls that the girls were a part of when they were younger. Jim and Cecile's lives were changed forever when First Methodist Church, Waco, had a Lay Witness Mission in 1969. They visited with people who had a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. They asked Jesus into their lives, and after that event, they wanted to serve Jesus Christ in everything they did.

Cecile's husband, Jim served on the board of One Mission Society (OMS), and Cecile loved getting to know many OMS missionaries that they supported and prayed for. She was also active in the prayer ministry, Bible studies, and Sunday School at First Methodist Church in Waco for many years. Cecile loved singing in the church choir and playing in the hand bell choir as well. She was an avid reader, and even more so after the girls had grown up. She also enjoyed the annual extended summer camping trips in the RV, exploring various areas of the US with her family. After Cecile and Jim had retired from teaching at

Baylor, they enjoyed traveling throughout the year as empty nesters. Not surprisingly, Cecile loved playing Sudoku, and she played it almost every day after her retirement. It was the perfect game for a mathematician who loved numbers.

Preceding Cecile in death were her parents, Charles King and Narceille Marshall Butts; her husband, Jim Truitt; and her brother, Charles King Butts Jr. 

Cecile is survived by two daughters, Susan Truitt, a career missionary in Seoul, Korea with One Mission Society, and Catherine Truitt Newman and her husband, Tod and their three children, Zachary, Hannah, and Samuel of Tucson, Arizona; sister, Mignon Butts of Seguin, Texas; and numerous cousins, nieces and nephews.

We want to express our thanks to the caregivers who cared for Cecile during the last several months, including those at Fidelity Care Corner in Tucson where she lived for her last few weeks.

In lieu of flowers, gifts in memory of Cecile Truitt may be made to One Mission Society (P.O. Box A, Greenwood, IN 46142; https://onemissionsociety.org/where-needed); First Methodist Church Waco (https://firstwaco.com/give/); or the Alzheimer's Association (https://www.alz.org/).