Emma V. Maxwell

Born Emma Virginia Dunlap on January 6, 1918, Vee lived virtually her entire life in Dallas before relocating to Austin in the past year. She spent her first years in Oak Cliff, then moved to Highland Park where she attended Highland Park High School. She was a graduate of Southern Methodist University, where she was a member of Mortar Board and Kappa Kappa Gamma. With a degree in education, she trained briefly as a student teacher before marriage.

Vee married Allen Maxwell, who had recently become the first paid employee of SMU Press, in 1940. Soon afterward, World War II intervened and Allen became a U.S. Navy officer. Vee moved with him to assignments in Boston and New York then back to Dallas when he went overseas. The first of her three children was born in 1946 and she spent the next two decades raising a family and running a busy home.

Then, in 1964, she went back to work as a language therapist and a member of the first class in Dallas trained to improve the reading skills of children with dyslexia. Starting in private practice, she later accepted a staff position at The Hockaday School where she eventually became Director of Language Training.

Retiring in 1974 from Hockaday, Vee focused her full energy and enthusiasm on the Lazy M, the family farm in Gilmer, Texas where she and Allen bred and raised horses and cattle as well as managing timber rights. She recalled these years as among the happiest of her life because of the opportunity to spend time with children and friends in the country and to become an educated horsewoman. One of her favorite pursuits was mowing her "front pasture" with a large riding mower.

After her husband's death in 2012, Vee relocated to The Querencia in Austin where she had wonderful care and loving and constant attention from her daughter Becky and son in-law Steve Saltwick. Relieved of the burden of running a home, her last months were peaceful and full of visits with family.

Vee Maxwell was a member of the Triad Club and the Mr. and Mrs. Class at University Park Methodist Church. She was preceded in death by her siblings, Robert C. Dunlap Jr. and Katherine Neil. She is survived by her three children, Otis Maxwell of Saratoga Springs, New York, Dr. Susanna Maxwell of Flagstaff, and Becky Saltwick of Austin; by grandchildren Jamaica, Sarah, Eric, Gratis and Elijah, and great-grandson Enso.

A memorial service in Dallas, TX is planned for the fall and will be announced at a later date.

To share your memories and condolences with Vee’s family, please visit www.cookwaldenchapelofthehills.com.

Arrangements provided by Cook-Walden Chapel of the Hills Funeral Home, 9700 Anderson Mill Road, Austin, TX 78750