Fayzola Calk's Obituary
CALK, ATHALENE FAYZOLA was born November 9, 1920, in North Little Rock, Arkansas, to Zella Mae McMahon and William Forrest Lyons. She was the oldest of four children: sister, Dynisha Gordon, and brothers Jarrel Lyons and Col. ret. Billy S. Lyons. She was married for 72 years to Walter Robert Calk, who preceded her in death on June 26, 2014. She died on July 3, 2014, seven days after the love of her life joined Our Heavenly Father. She is survived by daughter and son-in-law, Judith and Ritchie Croft and grandchildren Ryan and Ashley. She and Walter married on Easter Sunday, April 5, 1942, just after the church service concluded. In 2015, their anniversary would have fallen on Easter Sunday for the first time since they married. It has been said that their love story resembles that portrayed in “The Notebook.” They simply could not live without each other. She was ill for only the last six weeks of her life. When she went to the hospital in May, 2014, it was the first time that she had spent the night as a patient in the hospital since giving birth to their daughter. Her family feels blessed that she enjoyed such excellent health for the majority of her life. She graduated with honors from North Little Rock High School and went on to receive a degree from a local business college. She was a past Worthy Advisor of North Little Rock Assembly No. 13, Order of the Rainbow for Girls, North Little Rock, Arkansas. She had been encouraged to join the Rainbow Girls by her uncle, Paul Lyons. Paul Lyons helped her convince her husband, Walter, to join the Masonic Lodge where Paul was the Secretary. In 1947, she and Walter left their families and friends behind and moved to Houston, Texas. Their daughter was born in March, 1948, in Houston. She is their only child. While in Houston, Fay was mainly a homemaker, but she took a job as an accounts manager at a new store named Newberry’s when the Gulfgate Mall opened and Walter was serving a nine-month stint on a federal grand jury. She served on the board that helped to name a new elementary school that was being built across the street from their home. In 1962, the family again made a move to begin a new adventure that would improve their lives. They moved to Dallas, Texas, where Walter began to travel as a district supervisor for B. F. Goodrich. After their daughter moved her Rainbow membership to Edwin J. Kiest Assembly, Fay petitioned the Eastern Star Chapter there where she became a 50 year member last year. She served on the Kiest Rainbow board. She was extremely proud that she, her husband, her daughter, grandson, granddaughter and son-in-law were all endowed members of The Order of the Eastern Star. She was a member of White Rock United Methodist Church and the Wedding Ring Sunday School Class. She loved to sew, and spent many hours on the porch at the house in Houston teaching the girls in the neighborhood to sew and make clothes for their dolls. She spent hundreds of hours making doll clothes for Santa to bring to her daughter whenever a new doll came to reside in the house. Her love of sewing is continued by her daughter, who is an avid quilter. She also loved to cook, and while helping to care for her grandchildren, she instilled the love of cooking in Ryan and Ashley. Ryan went on to become a Chef, receiving a Culinary Arts Degree. She and Ashley made spiced tea that they drank with homemade cookies to have tea parties while Poppy had coffee. Family was the most important thing in her life, after her belief in Jesus Christ. She continued to read her Bible every day until her eyes would no longer focus on the small print. Every night that she and Walter spent together, they could be heard reciting The Lord’s Prayer together before they went to sleep. That was a tradition that both her parents and Walter’s parents passed on to the couple. She attended every activity or performance in which her daughter participated, and she and Walter even spent their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary watching their daughter being initiated into the National Honor Society. Whenever Walter was in the hospital, she would spend every day by his side, leaving only when he insisted that she go home to get some rest. Until the day he died, she was still supervising the caregivers who were seeing to his needs. When the time came to pack her daughter’s belongings and take her to Austin, Texas, to attend the University of Texas and reside in the Scottish Rite Dormitory, she kept a stiff upper lip until she and Walter pulled away from the dormitory. She cried the whole three-hour drive back to Dallas. Whenever she was able to accompany Walter on a business trip that would take her to Austin, she went and accompanied her daughter to classes at The University. She used to proudly say that she, too, had been a student at The University of Texas. She was a true animal lover having raised several dogs during her marriage. She truly loved daschunds, and had recently fallen in love with her daughter’s newest dog, Maggie, who brought joy every time she visited her “grandparents.” She and Walter loved musical theater, and they watched recorded musicals on a regular basis. Their favorite musical was “Brigadoon.” Their favorite song was “Til There Was You” from that musical. When Walter became ill, and it became evident that he would not recover as he had so many times in the past, her own health began to decline. Whenever they were apart, neither one would have good health. They were together in a group home when Walter passed away on June 26, 2014. Her heart and health never recovered from the news that her soul mate was gone. She steadily went downhill, and on July 3, 2014, seven days after Walter’s death, with her daughter Judith and her grandson Ryan holding her hand, she took her last breath and joined her love in Heaven. Visitation from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM on Monday, July 7, 2014 at Restland Funeral Home. Service at 10:00 AM on Tuesday, July 8, 2014 at Restland Wildwood Chapel.
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