Lee Carver

Otha Lee Carver, age 92, passed away on June 2, 2020 at Victoria Gardens Nursing Home in Allen, Texas, with her son Roger holding her hand.

Otha Lee was born in Plainview, Texas on February 13, 1928 to W. J. (Bill) Taliaferro and Sarah Emily Parkinson. She grew up dirt-poor in eastern New Mexico and Fort Worth, Texas, attended one-room schools in the New Mexico desert, cooked and kept house when she was only a tiny child, and suffered physical child abuse for years. She married Earl Carver of Lubbock, Texas in 1941 at the age of 13. He adored her, and she stayed with him for the next 64 years until the end of his life.

Otha Lee and Earl owned and operated motels and rental properties in Lubbock. Lee was extremely talented and gifted, had many interests and hobbies, and started many businesses. She played the piano and accordion, raised birds in her own aviary, loved to read, was excellent at playing Scrabble, could sew anything, and won many first and second place prizes for her creations in the Panhandle South Plains Fair in Lubbock. She opened the Wayfarer Gift Shop; opened and operated a shop named Ceramic Chaos where she and her daughter Sharon created and kiln-fired ceramic greenware and taught students how to paint; built and operated the Wayfarer Steak House restaurant; opened and operated the Briarcroft Fabric store where she sold high-end fabric and sewing supplies; closed that store and took the fabric to Ruidoso New Mexico where she sewed the fabric into clothing which she sold in a downtown store that she opened; worked at a store named Paddle Tramps making wooden plaques, letters, trophies, paddles and other wooden products; worked at Modern Chevrolet as a bookkeeper; made hundreds of quilts, wall hangings, and cross stitch hangings; painted hundreds of wooden toys, models of miniature buildings, statues, and other wooden products that her husband Earl made; and taught basic computer skills at a senior center.

Maw Maw, as Otha Lee was called by most of her family, loved to travel. She and Paw Paw (Earl, her husband) took their kids on numerous road trips to Ruidoso, Disneyland, White Sands National Park, Albuquerque, Knott’s Berry Farm, Carlsbad Caverns, Taos Pueblo, the Grand Canyon, Cliff Dwellings National Monument, and too many other places to remember. Maw Maw attended the 34 ^th Street Foursquare Church in Lubbock for many years, where she occasionally played the piano.

Maw Maw was preceded in death by her husband Earl, her daughter Sharon Dixon, and her son Jeff Carver. She is survived by her son, Roger Carver, his wife Becky Carver, 10 grandchildren, 21 great-grandchildren, 6 great-great grandchildren, and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins.

An Afternoon of Remembrance for friends and family will be held from 2:00 pm until 4:00 pm on Sunday, June 14, 2020 at Allen Family Funeral Options in Plano, Texas.

A graveside Celebration of Life will be held at the City of Lubbock Cemetery in Lubbock, Texas.