V. Levon Ezell's Obituary
V. Levon Ezell
Obituary
Ezell, V. Levon
Born May 24, 1930, in Pascagoula, MS, passed away March 2, 2020, in Dallas, TX, where he lived for 60 years. He was preceded in death by his parents, Vertie Levon and Eran Grant Ezell, and by his best friend and loving wife of 59 years, Tommi; and survived by his daughter Mona and her husband Michael Shoemate (Austin, TX); his son Grant and his wife Kathy, and his beloved granddaughters Jordan Ezell (Atlanta, GA) and Jenny Ezell (Austin, TX).
Levon was the center of his family, a kind and loyal friend, and an asset to the company he co-founded and to his industry and community. He was a star running back at Pascagoula High School, on a team that won the state championship. He received a football scholarship to Ole Miss and then transferred to Pearl River Junior College, where he was later inducted into the football hall of fame. But most importantly, Pearl River was where he met the love of his life, Tommi. They made a great team – the football star and the beauty queen and cheerleader. They married in 1951, when Levon’s Army National Guard unit was mobilized during the Korean Conflict. After his service, Levon finished his education at the University of Southern Mississippi, where he played football and graduated magna cum laude in mathematics, all while having to wash his baby daughter’s cloth diapers in the sink, a hardship that he never let her forget! After college, he returned to Pascagoula to run the family business and to add a son to his family, his proudest accomplishment.
Levon moved his family to Dallas in 1960, where he co-founded and served as president and chairman of the board of a wholesale floor covering company with his high school friend, Lloyd Brinkman. Levon’s honesty, integrity, loyalty, and leadership earned him the respect of his employees at the company and his customers and colleagues in the industry. He was one of the founders of the North American Association of Floor Covering Distributors, was an honorary director of the Retail Floor Covering Institute, was honored by the National Congress of Floor Covering Associations with the Outstanding Distributor of the Year award, was a strong supporter of the Western, American, and World Floor Covering Associations, and was the 1985 recipient of the Anti-Defamation League Torch of Liberty. Levon was a member of the Dallas and Lewisville Chambers of Commerce and the Dallas Museum of Art, a member and director of the Texas Woman’s University Foundation, and a long-time member of the Spring Valley United Methodist Church and the Sunday school class there that he and Tommi helped form.
In their lives together, Levon and Tommi made many wonderful and loving friends with whom they shared good times and bad and the adventures of getting an education; serving their country; making a family and home; starting a business; getting kids through school and weddings, helping them begin careers, and watching them start families of their own; socializing and supporting Levon’s cherished Dallas Cowboys, Texas Rangers, and Dallas Mavericks; and travelling around the world. Levon especially loved the time spent with family and friends on the beach at South Padre Island, where many margaritas were consumed over shrimp and snapper. But their most joyful times were spent with the two bright and beautiful granddaughters to whom they were Papa and Tata.
Levon was a patient, kind, honorable, gentle man who always tried to do the right thing, even when no one was looking, and who made a difference in the lives of all those who knew him, especially his family. He was surrounded by that family when the time came to return to his heavenly father. His death leaves behind a hole that cannot be filled in the hearts and lives of his family and friends.
The family will receive friends from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Thursday, March 5, at the Memorial Chapel at Restland Funeral Home at 13005 Greenville Ave, Dallas, Texas 75243. The memorial service will be held on Friday, March 6, at 11:00 a.m., at Restland’s Memorial Chapel. Memorials may be made to the American Cancer Society.
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