Individual Details

Amma Leigh Alexander

(9 Dec 1911 - 5 Jun 2001)

After surviving a triple bypass and valve replacement at 80 and breast cancer at at 83, Leigh died of complications from a tumor that went completely through the thigh bone above the right knee. For a tumor to be that aggressive, the Kerrville physicians assumed that the tumor had to be malignant. She spent two-and-a -half agonizing weeks in University Hospital in San Antonio determing that the tumor was benign and having the leg surgically repaired. She then spent four days in a Kerrville nursing home undergoing rehabilitation before she began hemorrhaging and was sent to the Kerrville hospital. After seven transfusions she had her colon removed. This was her third major surgery in three weeks. Recovery was going well and physical therapy had resumed when pneumonia set in on the third day after surgery. She fought a desperate battle for life that extended four days longer than the doctors and nurses gave her. She was buried at the Garden of Memories Cemetery in Kerrville on June the 9th.

FUNERAL NOTES FROM THE AUTHOR (LEIGH'S YOUNGEST SON)

Trinity Baptist Church has had fill-in or interim pastors for over two years. Dad was concerned that there wasn't a minister on staff to conduct the funeral service that knew Mom. An older layman that works with the youth must have drawn the short straw and given the task of officiating over the funeral. He called Dad and asked if she had her own Bible, and if he could borrow it. He explained that he would be able to gain insights into Leigh's faith and character from reading what she had highlighted and underscored. Our family thought he did an incredible job for never having met Mom. Her love for our Lord and caring nature for others really stood out. There were two "thoughts" that he found in her Bible that she had cut out from somewhere and placed there for frequent review. Everyone present could visualize Mom as he read the following two items and spoke of her exemplary Christian life:

"THOUGHTS" FOUND IN LEIGH CULP'S BIBLE

Just close your eyes and open your heart
And feel your worries and cares depart,
Just yield yourself to the Father above
And let Him hold you secure in his Love . . .
When you are tired, discouraged and blue,
There's always one door that is open to you - -
And that is the door to the house of prayer
And you'll find God waiting to meet you there . .
For the heart is a temple when God is there
As we place ourselves in His loving care,
And He hears every prayer and answers each one
When we pray in His name "Thy will be done" - -
And the burdens that seemed too heavy to bear
Are lifted away on "The Wings of Prayer."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Lord, show me the way
I can somehow repay
The blessings You've given to me . . .
Lord, teach me to do
What you most want me to
And to be what You want me to be . . .
I'm unworthy I know
But I do love You so - -
I beg you to answer my plea . . .
I've not much to give
But as long as I live
May I give it completely to Thee.

AUTHOR'S PERSONAL COMMENTS CONCERNING THE LOSS OF HIS MOTHER

I awoke with a strange feeling on Friday, June the 5th, that I did not easily identify. I knew it was not due to the imminent death of my mother. She had lapsed into a coma during the night and was no longer able to struggle for her next breath. I had spent over four weeks adjusting to my loss and her gain. She had repeatedly said that she would rather die than spend a single night in a nursing home. The four she did spend in a nursing home were a terrible experience for her. The last few weeks of her life were characterized by pain and suffering. If she had survived, she would have spent the rest of her life in a nursing home. Her "homecoming" to be with the Lord was a blessing.

As the day progressed, this foreboding feeling caused even more anxiety and anguish. It occurred to me in the middle of the afternoon that what I was feeling was vulnerability. I had not experienced this feeling since returning from Vietnam. The year I was in Vietnam I spent every waking moment looking over my shoulder. I was in harms way every second of every day and there was nothing I could do about it. After identifying what I was feeling, I began wondering why I was feeling vulnerable at this particular time. It then occurred to me that for the first time in over sixty-one years, my mother had not prayed for me that day.

Events

Birth	9 Dec 1911	Deadwood, Panola, Texas, USA
Residence	1920	Relation to Head: Daughter; Residence Marital Status: Single - Justice Precinct 6, Panola, Texas, USA
Residence	1930	Marital Status: Single; Relation to Head: Daughter - Precinct 1, Nacogdoches, Texas, USA
Amma Leigh Alexander visits the Blue Triangle club	6 May 1931	Shreveport, Louisiana
Residence	1933	2700 West College Street, Shreveport, Louisiana, USA
Amma Leigh Alexander attends someone's shower	16 Jan 1933	Shreveport, Louisiana
Marriage	10 Nov 1933	Shreveport, Bossier, Louisiana, USA - Paul Meredith Culp Sr.
Culp-Alexander Wedding in The Shreveport Journal - Nov. 11, 1933	11 Nov 1933	Shreveport, Louisiana, USA
Residence	1935	Rural, Caddo, Louisiana, USA
Residence	1936	Shreveport, Louisiana, USA
Leigh Culp pork chop recipe wins award in the Shreveport Times p	12 Sep 1936	Shreveport, Louisiana, USA
Leigh Culp wins $25 essay award	3 Aug 1938	Shreveport, Louisiana, USA
Residence	1940	Marital Status: Married; Relation to Head: Wife - Justice Precinct 3, Smith, Texas, USA
Leigh Culp selling a Cocker Spaniel pup while they were in Cisco	23 Nov 1943	Abilene, Texas
Residence	1950	Waco, McLennan, Texas, USA
Residence	1957	Abilene, Taylor, Texas, USA
Death	5 Jun 2001	Kerrville, Kerr, Texas, USA
Residence		Kerrville, TX
Burial		Garden of Memories Cemetery, Kerrville, Kerr, Texas, USA

Families

Spouse	Paul Meredith Culp Sr. (1910 - 2012)
Child	Paul Meredith Culp Jr. (1937 - )
Child	Robert Clifton Culp (1940 - )

Father	William Jefferson Alexander (1879 - 1965)
Mother	Lucinda Elizabeth "Lizzie" LaGrone (1886 - 1924)
Sibling	Ernest Clyde Alexander (1905 - 1965)
Sibling	Elton Boyd Alexander (1907 - 1995)
Sibling	Odis David Alexander (1909 - 1998)
Sibling	Conrad Huel Alexander (1914 - 1999)
Sibling	William Russell Alexander (1916 - 2002)
Sibling	Jerry Roberson Alexander (1918 - 2000)
Sibling	Fannie Mae Alexander (1920 - 1997)
Sibling	Warrena Alexander (1923 - 2002)

Individual Details

Amma Leigh Alexander

Events

Families

Endnotes