Opal Lee Golder

Opal “Lee” Golder was born in 1919 in Louisville, Kentucky. Lee graduated from an all girls’ high school where she was a diligent student and loved playing tennis. Following graduation, she worked in the office of an insurance company until she met and married the young ministerial student who came to speak one Sunday evening at the Baptist Church in which she’d grown up. In various parts of the United States, Germany and Japan, Lee, as a military wife, made wonderful homes for her husband and children. With Lee by his side, Chaplain William Parker Golder, went on to become the Pentagon Chaplain. Untimely widowed, at age 43, Lee busied herself embarking on her own college education while continuing alone to raise and educate her daughters through undergraduate and graduate university programs. She also returned to the tennis courts, learned to play bridge and golf, even making a hole-in-one at the municipal golf course in Austin. In her mid-sixties, she moved to West Texas to remain geographically closer to family. Over the last 30 years, Lee has been active in her church, St. Paul Presbyterian, and in various community organizations. Lee also began sewing dresses for orphaned girls and young women across the globe, in such far flung places as Mexico, Haiti, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Mozambique and, of course, the United States. Because of her efforts, Lee was named a Woman of Distinction by the Central Texas Girl Scouts in 2015. Lee is survived by her daughters, Iva Golder Haislip; Sharon Golder Kulig; and Mary Golder Roberson; grandchildren Kara Kulig Tibor, Kristin Kulig Crowley, Kyle Kulig, Charlie Roberson, and Casey Roberson; 9 great grandchildren and her beloved rescue dog, Annie Laurie. The family is thankful to Drs. Jurado, Montoyo, Escobar and Kasberg, who extended her life with their medical talents and to the staff of the Talley House at Baptist Memorials for their loving care. A private graveside service will be held at a later date at the National Cemetery in San Antonio. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Meals for the Elderly or St. Paul Presbyterian Church.