Sylvia Anne Carraway

October 5, 1939 – August 28, 2019

Thirty-three years ago, with the help of her husband Clarence, and her new father in law Ollis, Sylvia Anne Carraway helped transform the landscape of their family property near Kosse, Texas in a big tall way. She absolutely loved nature and discovered that she could order large quantities of quick growing pine seedlings from the Navasota Valley Electric Coop. magazine. After placing her first order, they were all a little surprised when 1,000 seedlings arrived! After the exhausting work of planting those trees, Ollis asked her to never order 1,000 trees again. Even with his background in working for a sawmill, her father in law asked, “Who orders 1,000 trees?” She promised not to do that again, and her next order was for just 900 seedlings! Although her stature was a petite 5,2” she was a mighty spitfire.

Born near the Louisiana Bayou in New Orleans, on October 5, 1939, she learned at an early age to live life in a large way. At age eight, she was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Lake Pontchartrain by her father Martin Leonard Nicol, Jr. with her mother Mildred Theresa Brown looking on. The day before her baptism she was excited to go with her dad in his fishing boat to that same lake where she would be baptized the next day. To her horror, she discovered that the delicious meals her father would bring home of shrimp and crawfish, also came from a net that brought in many small lake creatures. Much to her chagrin, she felt very squeamish, but she pushed through her fear into the water that next day. She said she never regretted that decision and remained a faithful member of the church all of her life. Not long after her baptism at age 8, the U.S. congregations of the LDS church sent canned goods to the help the starving people living in post-World War II Germany. Sylvia decided to write a note of encouragement inside her can label and leave her name and address before sending. She was surprised when a letter arrived to her from a family in Germany thanking her for helping them. They also asked her to help them find their family in the United States. This made the local Newspaper! Sylvia continued living a life of service and loved her family very much.

While in school at Texas Tech she met and married Frank Kalana Sr. in 1959. They later moved to the Houston area where he started his dental practice and they started their family. She also started her career in Houston as a Licensed Vocational Nurse at the Houston Northwest Hospital. They raised six children. After they divorced, she remarried Clarence Ollis Carraway on March 9, 1986 and they loved living on their country property throughout their golden years. They both worked at the Dallas Texas LDS temple and loved giving service to other. Sylvia Anne Nicol Carraway passed away on August 28^th , 2019, just two months shy of her 80^th birthday. Her sparkling smile, friendly caring personality and witty sense of humor will be missed by all who knew her and especially her sons and daughters. Her survivors include her husband, Clarence Ollis Carraway, her children Frank Kalana, Jr.of Costa Rica, Angela Kalana McLane and her husband Frank McLane, III of Tomball, TX, D. Sterling Kalana of Salt Lake City, Utah, Nathan Kalana of Dallas, TX, Blake Kalana of Houston, TX, Laurel Anne Kalana of Utah, and step daughter Kimberly Carraway, and numerous grandchildren, great grandchildren, nieces and nephews. She had many dear friends and extended family members. The funeral service was held September 7^th , 2019, 1:30PM at the Plantersville Cemetery at Plantersville, TX.