Linda Diane Gruver, 79, of Daisetta, Texas, went to be with her, Heavenly Father on Friday, February 24, 2023, at Christus Dubuis Hospital in Beaumont, Texas surrounded by her loving family. Linda was born on October 21, 1943, to the late Alfred Besch and Margaret Evans in Liberty, Texas.
Linda grew up in a loving family with her mother, two brothers, and grandparents. Learning a tremendous work ethic from her mom (she got her Beautician's license during high school), Linda leaned how to run a home from her Grandmother Nettie. She enjoyed playing with her brothers & cousins, going to family reunions at Honey Island, & spending summers with her cousin Joy at her Aunt Pansy's. Her Granddaddy Lane taught her generosity and growing vegetables in the garden. Though she thought they were pretty, she did not get along with the chickens! Linda had fun in band & basketball, & walking home for lunch. She was in Peanuts, Sub Debs, & Cheerleading. She learned to drive from her cousin & had clothes made by Mrs. Farris. She wrote her biography & family history under Mrs. Strickland & wrote her life's course worshipping the Lord in the Baptist & Methodist churches. She made lifelong friends and was honored as Football Sweetheart & Miss Hull-Daisetta.
Linda went to college with plans to become a kindergarten teacher, but quickly met her life's partner in love & Christian ministry, Lee Gruver. They soon married & moved to Houston, but returned home when they were to have their first child, for a time having four generations under one roof while they got used to parenthood & his shift work at Armco Steel. Later in Dayton, she took baby Christi with her as she taught.
GA's. They had moved to Baytown by the time their second child, Lee, came, & rooted themselves in Central Baptist. When she went to work at the Post Office (where she worked for thirty years), they settled in Liberty & in Heights Baptist Church.
Linda was a Super Mom of the 1970's, as a Brownie, & Cub Scout & Little League Mom, & a Mother Advisor in Rainbow, even chaperoning girls at many Grand Assemblies throughout the state. She was one of the founding members of SOS, & she also gave talks in the local schools on stamp collecting. They enjoyed road trips for summer vacations, & fishing & camping at the deer lease throughout the year. She learned to cook anything, always cooking a hot meal for Lee to take to work, & worked the concession stand for the Men's Softball League where he played. They celebrated many birthdays & holidays with both sides of the family. Linda loved laughter, movies, plays, & music; she always had jig saw puzzles, dominoes, & plenty of books, & history books & cookbooks for reading. She made their home a sanctuary of love, security, & fun! She was always there for her husband, children, & community.
Linda & Lee became involved in discipleship & youth work, & he became ordained as first a deacon & then a preacher. They attended Dogwood, & then began pulpit supply, where she would fill in for Sunday School & work with the church ladies remembering names, prayer requests, church locations, & sermon notes, -- & taking a covered dish wherever. Their first church was South Dayton, & later Central, & Calvary in Liberty.
Linda learned to drive to the Houston Medical Center & phone in prayer requests while Lee had leukemia, & later her mom had cancer as well. They served in Central Daisetta & then at their current home of Batson Prairie. Linda enjoyed meeting people wherever she was, always remembered the, with kindness, & created connections of love, reconciliation, & fellowship. She supported her family in each of their endeavors, covered them in prayer, & dreamed bigger dreams for them than they could for themselves.
Linda is preceded in death by her parents; son, Lee Burt Gruver Jr.; son-in-law Kevin R. Ladd; and brother, Alfred Lane Besch.
Those left to cherish her memory are her loving husband of 60 years Pastor Reverend Lee B. Gruver of Daisetta, Texas; daughter, Christi Diane Gruver Ladd of Hardin, Texas; brother, Roy Besch and wife Elizabeth of The Woodlands, Texas; nephew, Brian Besch and wife Amanda of Goodrich, Texas; cousins, Johnny Evans and wife Lou of Weatherford, Texas, Maryanne Campbell of Liberty, Texas, also many loving relatives and a host of friends.
A Service of Remembrance will be held on Wednesday, March 1, 2023, 1:00 pm at New Life Church 42493 Hwy 105 Batson, Texas 77519 with Pastor Bill Fabriquez, Pastor Tim Gruver, and Pastor Tolbert Hudspeth officiating. Interment to follow at Oakdale cemetery in Daisetta, Texas. A gathering of family and friends will be on Tuesday, February 28, 2023, from 5:00 pm until 8:00 pm at Faith & Family Funeral Chapel.
Honoring Linda as pallbearers are Brian Besch, Doug Chandler, Randy Gruver, Joel Atkinson, Jerisan Weaver, and Ryan Taylor. Honorary pallbearers are Tom Warner, Jerry Guedry, Bill Turner, Bruce Campbell, Butch Hart, and Ross Taylor.