Elna Caviness

Lavon Ostrom Caviness died Wednesday January 22, 2014 in San Antonio. Funeral services will be 2:00 p.m. Monday at the Minton Memorial Chapel with Rev. Roy Dittmar, a cousin, of Oklahoma officiating. Burial will be in Highland Park Cemetery next to her husband, Buster under the direction of Minton Chatwell Funeral Directors of Borger. There will be a family visitation Sunday from 5:00 until 7:00 p.m. at the funeral home.

Lavon was born on September 27,1923 in Jinks, Oklahoma. She is the eldest of four daughters born to Delbert Fritz Ostrom and Pearl Streeter Ostrom. The family moved to the oil refinery town of Phillips, Texas in 1926.
Lavon was raised Baptist and later converted to the First Methodist Church of Phillips. She was an active member of both her churches and later taught the fourth grade Sunday School class for over ten years. She attended kindergarten through high school in the Phillips school system and graduated in 1940. An avid athlete, Lavon played both volleyball and basketball for the Phillips Blackhawks. She also joined the pep squad, was a member of the Phillips High School concert and marching band, playing the french horn. Lavon was one of the original members of the Tes Trams social club and as an adult and mother she sponsored Tes Trams for over ten years.

Lavon attended Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas and Brookhaven School for Girls in Brookhaven, Mississippi. In 1944, during World War II, Lavon moved to Los Angeles, California, with her sister, Gwendolyn and worked in a defense plant. While there, she appeared in an amateur play produced by the Stars of Tomorrow and began an amateur modeling career.

Lavon later returned to Texas where she met Buster Caviness, a young sergeant in the U.S. Army Air Force. They married in July, 1947. One of the many passions they had in common was the strong love and care of animals. That passion led Lavon to care for more than 75 dogs and numerous cats and wild animals in her lifetime.
. As a young girl and a young, married adult, Lavon worked at the Ostrom DryGoods Grocery Store in Phillips, while Buster managed the CO Sales Hardware Store Caviness and Ostrom. After the birth of their two daughters, Karla in 1947, and Darla in 1950, Lavon stayed home to raise her family and Buster served for 29 years as President of the First Savings and Loan of Borger. Lavon eventually went to work at Panhandle Bank and Trust where she faithfully spent 19 years as a switchboard operator.

Over the years, Lavon became very active in civic clubs in Borger and Phillips, including Rainbow Girls, Girl Scout sponsor, Eastern Star, Woman of Rotary, the Lady Lions she was a charter member of the Knife and Fork Club. She also engaged in many social organizations and activities. One of her joys was cochairing and working with HOPE cancer drive and auction held at the Borger Dome. Lavon did an outstanding job and her passion to help others was obvious to all who knew her. Always a beautiful and exceptional lady, known for her love of fashion she frequently participated in runway modeling for the local civic clubs and area department stores at the Borger Country Club, an activity she greatly loved and enjoyed. She also owned and operated a wig salon, an antique store, and a Lavons Shoe Salon all in Borger, TX.

Lavon and Buster moved to Amarillo, Texas in 1996. There they joined the Polk Street Methodist Church. She was an active fan of the Amarillo Sandies, she and Buster were members of S.P.R.I.N.T., an organization which raised funds for the construction of a new track at Amarillo High School Lavons later years were spent in San Antonio. She moved there in 2006 where she endured a lengthy illness.

She is preceded in death by her husband Buster in 2003, soninlaw Billy Howard of Houston in 1984, sister Gwendolyn Ostrom of Amarillo in 2004 and brotherinlaw Bud Evans of Houston in 2013.

Lavon is survived by two daughters, Karla and husband Joe Hayes of Amarillo, and Darla Howard of San Antonio four grandchildren, Brent Turner and wife Mary of Buda, Texas, Lane Rose and wife Kelli of Dallas, Lyndsy Calato and husband Chris of Houston, Kurt Howard and wife Kimberly of San Antonio, five greatgrandchildren, Mariah and Faith Turner of Buda, twins, Jax and Cade Calato, of Houston, Claudia Ann Rose of Dallas. Lavon is also survived by her two sisters, Dr. Elnita Ostrom Stanley of Groves, TX, and Carolyn Ostrom Evans of Houston, brotherinlaw Don Coyne of Borger and eight nieces and nephews.
Lavon left a host of loving friends and family and will be sorely missed. The family would appreciate that, in lieu of flowers, memorials be made to the Alzheimers Disease Research, your local Humane Society or the Polk Street Methodist Church, 1401 S. Polk St., Amarillo, TX 79101.

Visitation

MintonChatwell Funeral Directors
314 S. Hedgecoke
Borger, TX  79007
Sunday, January 26, 2014
5:00 until 7:00 p.m.

Service

Funeral

Minton Memorial Chapel
314 S. Hedgecoke
Borger, TX  79007
Monday, January 27, 2014
2:00 p.m.

Cemetery

Highland Park CemeteryH
931 Sterling St.
Borger, TX  79007

Memorial Contributions

1401 S. Polk St.
Amarillo, TX  79101


1400 Wallace Blvd.
Amarillo, TX  79106