Barbara "Cakie" Hitt

Barbara (Sims) Hitt, of Groesbeck, passed away on Sunday, June 27, 2010, at the Mexia LTC. She was 93. Visitation will be Thursday, July 1, 2010, from 6:00 to 8:00 P.M. at the Groesbeck Funeral Home. Graveside services will be held at 11:00 A.M. on Friday, July 2, 2010, at the Lost Prairie Cemetery, with Rev. Jerry Fulton and Rev. J. R. Tapley officiating. Barbara was born December 16, 1916 to Wiley Sims and Hanie (Oakes) Sims at Lost Prairie, the next to the youngest of twelve children. Her dad, Wiley Sims was a deputy sheriff in the twenties, and raised cotton where Lake Limestone is presently located. In school, Cakie was poor in math, but decided to pass geometry by studying her theorems while she was plowing cotton for her dad, and amazing everyone when she made good grades in it. She went to school at Lost Prairie, then graduated from high school at Groesbeck, where she had played basketball for the Goats. She married John Wesley Hitt on May 12, 1936. Cakie was a deputy and a dispatcher for the Brazoria County Sheriff’s Office in Angleton, TX. In 1967, at age 50, she graduated from Polly Ryon School of Nursing in Rosenberg, Texas. She worked as an LVN in Rosenberg, Angleton, Sweeny, and Brazosport Hospital in Freeport, TX, before retiring and moving back to Limestone County around 1984. Cakie and Wesley built their house here and the one before in West Columbia themselves, from the ground up. She could do any job she wasn’t afraid of, and she wasn't afraid of much except electricity and snakes. At 70, she built her own storm celler, even with everyone telling her she couldn't do it. However, the neighbors used it during storm season. A few years later she reroofed her garage, and in her mid-80's she built a utility building with the help of her nephew, James Oswalt. Up until a few years ago, she always carried her nurse’s kit in her truck, ready to go when family or friends called her to check their blood pressure or for other problems. She was a passionate flower and vegetable gardener, and always had beautiful and bountiful results. On 4 acres, she had 30 pecan and fruit trees, rose gardens and flower gardens, and people would drive by just to see her flowers. She passed this talent on to her grandchildren. Cakie was a member of the First Baptist Church in West Columbia, and then moved her letter to the Lost Prairie Baptist Church when she moved back. During her life, Cakie had an ongoing competition with her first cousin, Alton Sims, as to who could outdo the other and live the longest. She lived a full life of which the family has proud memories. Cakie was preceded in death by her parents; her husband; five brothers and sisters-in-law, John Barnett and Addie Bea Sims, A. B. and Ethel Mae Sims, Bill and Mae Sims, Lud and Clara Sims,and Jack and Pat Sims; and by six sisters and brothers-in-law, Quinnie Bell and B. F. Allen, Velma and W.W. Jackson, Trixie and Osborn Kennedy, Faye and Fred Hannah, Gaye and Adell Jones, and Consuelo (Connise) and Frank Hargrove. She is survived by two daughters, Barbara Knight of Groesbeck, and Jan Wetz of Richmond; two grandsons, Charles Knight of Groesbeck and John Knight of Portland, OR; and two granddaughters, Lisa Wetz and Terrie Wetz of Richmond; a niece, Gloria Oswalt of Lake Limestone, her first cousin, Alton Sims and his wife Sarah of Groesbeck; and numerous additional nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends.