Frances Middleton

Frances Sue Middleton, 80, passed away on Monday, Feb. 14, 2011. Sue was a native of Hill County and was a resident of a Waco care facility at the time of her death. Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. Friday, Feb. 18, at Marshall & Marshall Funeral Directors Chapel in Hillsboro. Officiating will be Dr. James C. Gilbert, Honorably Retired Cumberland Presbyterian minister, and Rev. Darrell Beggs, pastor of Central Baptist Church in Hillsboro. Burial will be in the Middleton Family Plot at Ridge Park Cemetery in Hillsboro. Visitation will be from 6-8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 17, at the funeral home.

Sue was born March 18, 1930 to Chester and Irene McDonald Middleton of the Jessie Community. Sue grew up on the familys Cobb Creek farm and enjoyed driving the tractor and other field work. This was in sharp contrast to her skills as an accomplished pianist, where she was a student of Mrs. Vena McCarty Lowrey. She was a 1948 graduate of Hillsboro High School, was a member of the Eagle Band, and was an active thespian. Sue was the granddaughter of Frank and Tennie Duff Middleton and Will and Flora Thomas McDonald. For many years, she was pianist at the Antioch Presbyterian Church in Jessie and spent summers at Bible Memory Association Camp in Ringgold, Louisiana...a facility founded by Rev. N. A. Woychuk, her former pastor at the Jessie church.

In 1952, Sue graduated from Baylor University and she received her Masters Degree from North Texas State University. Summers were an active time for Sue. She worked for years as a counselor at Girl Scout camping facilities and later was active in whitewater river rafting in the Northeast.

She began her long and successful career in education in 1952 as an English, speech, and drama teacher at Alvin High School. Later she taught at Deer Park before joining the charter faculty of San Jacinto College in Pasadena. She concluded her career at San Jacinto as Dean of Continuing Education.

Sue is survived by her brother, Cecil Middleton of Irving, and her sister, Martha Middleton Ballenger of Hillsboro.

Memorials may be made to the Hillsboro Cemetery Association, P. O. Box 924, Hillsboro, TX 76645 or to the charity of ones choice.