Louva Agnes Hunt

Louva Agnes Hunt passed away on July 5, 2024, at the age of 92.  Her mind was sharp and active until the end, and her soul was ready.  She was able to say her goodbyes, wrestle with the life and death dilemmas, accept her fate, and meet her Maker with clarity and understanding.  She was the mother of eight children, an intelligent and highly educated woman who came up in a time with limited opportunities for women outside the home, but found worthy outlets for her compassion and abilities.

Louva was the eldest of two children born on November 13, 1931, to Ernest Lloyd Hunt and Maggie Belle Scoggins Hunt in Clarendon, Texas.  Louva and her younger brother Ernest Lloyd Hunt, Jr. were born, raised, and educated in and by the community of Clarendon, Texas, through the great depression and World War II.  Louva graduated high school in 1948 at the precocious age of 16.  From there, she immediately enrolled in Clarendon College for a year and one-half, and then on to Southern Methodist University in Dallas where she studied English and Spanish, earning her Bachelors Degree in June 1951.

In September 1951, Louva married her high school sweetheart, James R. Lovell, a newly licensed attorney.  They moved to Dumas, Texas, and over the course of two decades had eight children — Lynnita (1952), John (1954), Jimmy (1957), Joe (1959), Jeff (1962), Laura (1965), Leslie (1967), and Jesse (1973).

She was involved in her church and community, serving as chair and a long term member of the Kilgore Memorial Library, an active member of the American Association of University Women, and a deacon and elder of the First Presbyterian Church of Dumas.

Not one to stay still, Louva attended West Texas State University and earned a Master’s Degree in English and Spanish in 1972.  She used her skills in Spanish to teach English in the night adult education program offered through the Dumas school system in the early 1970’s.  From that experience, she recognized the need for affordable day care for the laborers in the meat packing and ag industries concentrated around Cactus, Texas.  That led her to create the Mi Escuelita Day Care Center, where she served as its founder and director through the 1970’s.

Louva went to work in the late 1980’s at the Palo Duro Hospital Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation Center and later at the Dual Diagnosis Treatment Center.  She returned to WTSU to pursue a graduate degree in Psychology and Mental Health Counseling.  She became licensed as a Licensed Professional Counselor in 1990, a Marriage and Family Therapist in 1992, and a Licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor in 2006.  Louva joined Family Support Services in Amarillo in 1996 (at her “retirement age”) where she provided adult, child, and family counseling until earlier this year at the age of 92! And that wasn’t all.  Over the last decade, Louva also found time to pursue a life-long love of writing, publishing two works of non-fiction – Little Weena’s Flowers (2016) and Alias, Pieles Macario (2024).

Louva was preceded in death by her parents, her brother Ernest Hunt, Jr. and her son Jeffrey Ray Lovell.

Louva is survived by a whole host of children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren: Nita Dyslin of Amarillo, and her sons Derrick (Lindsay) Dyslin of Houston, and their two children; and Chad (Danyell) Dyslin of Amarillo.  John H. Lovell of Amarillo, his wife Regina, and their daughters Esther Beagles of Canyon, and her two children; Rachel Lovell (John Lawrence) of Bay Village, Ohio, and their two daughters; Lindy (Justin) Blackstock of Canyon, and their son CJ; and son David (Mylea) Lovell of Ralls. Jim Lovell and his spouse Bill Stoner of Tourves, France. Joe L. Lovell of Amarillo, his wife Trish, and their sons Heath Lovell of Denver, and his two daughters; and Ben Lovell of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Jeff Lovell’s family: his wife Dianne, and their son, Johnny (Bridget) Lovell of Lumberton, and their five children; and daughter Whitney (Junior) Chairez of Dumas, and their three daughters. Laura Taylor of Amarillo, and her daughters Bristen Rodriguez of Amarillo and her two daughters; Nicole (Colton) Blessen of Amarillo, and their two daughters; and Tiffany (Landry) Vandergriff of Houston, and their son and another on the way. Leslie (Randall) Hawkins of McGregor, Texas, and children Jace (Jenna) Bennett of Amarillo, their daughter and another on the way; Jancee Bennett of Austin; Jayton (Paige) Bennett of Canyon, and their son; Matthew (Sierra) Hawkins of Dallas, and their daughter and son; Andrew (Taylor) Hawkins of Dallas; and Michael Hawkins of San Antonio. Jesse (Amy) Lovell of Claude, and their children Mattie Kate Lovell of St. George, Utah, and Hunter Lovell of Claude.

Burial will be next to her father and mother in Citizens Cemetery in Clarendon at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, July 20, 2024, by Robertson Funeral Directors.

A memorial service will be held at 2:00 pm on Saturday, July 20, 2024, in the First Presbyterian Church at 700 E. 1st Street in Dumas, Texas.

Louva requested that donations to her life and legacy be made generously to Eveline’s Sunshine Cottage in Amarillo, Texas.  evelinessunshinecottage.com

Louva’s family wants to express its appreciation to Gentiva Hospice and nurse Ashley Wortham.

The family also thanks and acknowledges their extra special appreciation for the Hudson House of Claude, which gave Louva a comfortable and caring home in her last year, and to Jill Benson, Sara Griffin, Breia Etheridge, Tina Cariveau, Kim Gossman, Debbie Williams, and Jenna Holt, who blessed Louva with loving care far beyond that which we could have ever imagined.