Artie Muriel Walden

Artie Muriel Walden, of Groesbeck, passed away peacefully at Windsor Healthcare Residence on Tuesday, February 5, 2013, with her family and friends at her side. She was 84. Interment will be at 11:00 A.M. on Friday, February 8, 2013 at Waco Memorial Park Cemetery with her family in attendance. A Memorial Service will be held at Windsor Healthcare Residence on Saturday, February 9, at 11:00 A.M., for local friends and family. Artie was born to John Milton Harmon and Sarah Charlotte Harmon in Lovelady, Texas on July 24, 1928. She grew up in Utah and New Mexico where the family moved while her dad worked for the railroad. She lived most of her life in Utah, and worked as a houseparent in the fifties at a school for deaf and blind boys in Ogden, Utah. She worked throughout the other times of her life as a waitress. After a time of living in Nevada, she moved to Texas, living in Houston, Waco, and the Groesbeck area. Artie was an avid reader, loved western music, travelled extensively, and was people-oriented. She was an “absorber” of people, becoming close with people she liked, and friendly with many others. She was a great country cook, and loved to bake and give her baked goods to anyone who touched her life, including the staff at doctor’s offices, and her daughters co-workers, as long as her health permitted. Artie had been a resident at Windsor Healthcare in Groesbeck for the past six months, and made friends with the fellow residents and staff. She was known to be “fiesty,” which showed her determination and philosophy to “get up and keep going”, in spite of health problems. She was a Christian, raised in the Baptist church. Artie was preceded in death by her parents, all eight of her brothers and sisters; two husbands; and son-in-law, LeRoy Simpson. She is survived by her daughter, Joyce Simpson of Hesperia, CA; daughter and son-in-law, Kim and Robert Brown of Thornton; grandson, John Kelly Simpson of Mohave Valley, CA; granddaughter, Kourtney Burger of Hesperia, CA; granddaughter, Victoria Jones and her husband William of Hesperia, CA; and eight great grandchildren.