Eitouni

Vivian Joan (Antosh) Eitouni, 76, of Katy, passed away peacefully the morning of Friday, May 4, 2018 in Katy. She is survived by her children Maesa, Rena, and Hany, her brother Nelson, ex-husband Sam, and sons-in-law Keith Williams and Mike Severin. She is also survived by many other family members and friends too numerous to mention because she was loved by so many. Rosary was recited on Tuesday, May 8 at 7 p.m. at Schwenke- Baumgarten Funeral Home and was led by Karen Miley. The funeral service was held in Schulenburg on May 9 at 10 a.m. at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church with Father Ty Bazar officiating. Pallbearers were Maurice Kasper, Josef Wied-Sanchez, Mike Severin, Keith Williams, Hyeok Hahn, and Josh Callaway. Schwenke- Baumgarten Funeral Home was in charge of the arrangements. Vivian was born on Feb. 10, 1942 at home in Schulenburg to Theodore “Teddy” and Ruby (Heller) Antosh who both preceded her in death. She was baptized and confirmed into the Catholic faith. She was active in the 4-H Club and was an artist for the school prom. She grew up and attended school in Schulenburg and graduated from Schulenburg High School in 1960. She moved to Houston four years later and lived the rest of her life in Houston and Katy. She worked in the insurance and oil industries as well as Avon sales. Following raising her children, she returned to work and retired from Exxon- Mobil after working there for 25 years. She was proud that she did not take a single sick-day during 15 consecutive years of working at ExxonMobil. She gave it her all and was loyal to what she did. Throughout life, she was generally a happy person and will be remembered this way. On Dec. 28, 1968, Vivian married Sam Eitouni in Houston. They had Maesa, Rena, and Hany in Houston and moved to Katy in 1978. They were creative, resourceful, hard-working and provided the children with examples of how to conserve finances as well as nature. Vivian was a great story-teller, reciting stories that her parents told her and stories of her youth. She was a talented artist and enjoyed painting, drawing and writing poems to family members. Throughout her life, Vivian was a seamstress for herself and her family, fashioning many household and personal items. Recently, Vivian joined a crochet club, Knotty and Nice in Katy, in which beautiful rag-rugs were her latest projects. She was also a conservationist and supported efforts to maintain and restore Texas grasslands, wetlands, and wildlife. She contributed to numerous charities which supported animals, the environment, children, veterans, and our constitution. Vivian was a gardener of many native plants and wildflowers and enjoyed seeing butterflies, bees, lizards and other wildlife that made use of her yard. Growing up on the farm, she had acquired some of these interests during her youth. She passed on to her children the invaluable ideas of respecting nature and our environment and of finding joy in each day. With her brother Nelson, Vivian traveled on several sightseeing vacations to observe the natural, architectural, and other wonders of our country. After a trip, she enjoyed telling her crochet and knitting group about where they went. Growing up, Vivian picked cotton on the family farm and attended many dances with her family. She continued dancing and listening to music as a young single woman. After retiring, she got her daughters interested in going to dances. She, Maesa, Rena and Nelson went to dances between Houston and Fayette County. Vivian had many pets during her life, a wide variety of reading interests in both books and periodicals, researched her family’s genealogy, visited her children where they lived, and later enjoyed raising cattle with Nelson. She always enjoyed spending time in the country and communities where she grew up. She loved her relatives and liked chatting and catching up with them at church picnics. Vivian was proud of her Texas German and Texas Czech roots and attended many festivals and conventions in celebration thereof. She was a member and volunteer at her local Texas German Society and Czech Heritage Society of Texas and the Czech library. She even dabbled in learning the Czech language. Her other memberships included ExxonMobil Club, NRA, Native Plants Society of Texas, Ducks Unlimited, Citizens for Animal Protection, and Houston SPCA. Vivian always enjoyed working, whether indoors or outdoors: doing her own yard work, working at the farm with her brother and adult children, going for walks, and exercising at Curves for Women. Due to this active lifestyle, Vivian was rarely sick, until recently. She was keen on the news, history, and politics, locally and beyond. Vivian was a life-long learner of many subjects ranging from oil well studies to psychology to art and architectural history to writing to bookkeeping and accounting. Getting to know different kinds of people was a joy to her. In recent decades, talking frequently with her son, Hany of California, on the phone was one of her favorite pastimes. The family thanks her visitors, many caregivers, as well as hospital and rehabilitation staff. Vivian was a wonderful rolemodel to many, but especially to her children. She will be very missed and always remembered. For those wishing to make a memorial, suggestions are to St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church, state parks, or give to the charity of your choice. Or, in Vivian’s memory, landscape your yard with native plants, smile at the wildlife you see, and think of her when you see butterflies.