Lolita was born in Talladega, Alabama on October 13, 1946 to the late Mary Jaurez Jeter Morgan Worrel and Frank Hilton Morgan. She graduated from Del Valle High School and continued her education at Brigham Young University and The University of Texas at Austin. She married Richard Van Slagle on March 12, 1966; they were married for 58 years.
Her career included a variety of interesting jobs but she ultimately worked for and retired from the City of Austin as Assistant Director of Administrative Services for the Austin Police Department, from where she retired in 2008. Her role at APD was wide ranging and included community outreach, helping to establish the community policing program, and overseeing the Blue Santa toy drive program for many years. Lolita enjoyed reading and travel and did both in abundance throughout her life and especially during her retirement. Her Kindle contains more than 650 books and she’s read them all! She took her first post-retirement trip to the UK in September of 2008 with her sister, Gloria. Among her many trips were a trip to England with her daughters, Lisa and Vanessa in 2015. In the following years, she took each of her grandsons on a trip to the destination of their choice, Connor to Ireland, Brock to England, and Cullen to Germany. She and her husband Richard enjoyed traveling around Texas, including several trips to Alpine, in West Texas to the Cowboy Poetry Gathering. In 2016 Lolita and Richard made a road trip to Salt Lake City, Utah. Lolita also made frequent trips to her home state of Alabama, (always taking the southern route to go through New Orleans) to visit family and revisit places she loved as a child. She traveled to locales all over the United States from Seattle to Key West, and San Diego to Kennebunkport, Maine, and particularly loved New York City, making several trips there as well.
Lolita’s other interests included playing canasta, gathering with friends for coffee on Tuesday mornings, and book club with her friends, just to name a few. Her first love was always her family. Lolita loved her family beyond measure. She was always looking out for them and concerned for their well-being even as she was fighting her own health battles. She was a loyal friend and welcomed so many wonderful friends, who became like family, into her life.
Lolita is survived by her husband, Richard, daughters, Lisa Rivers, and Vanessa Slagle, grandsons Connor Rivers, Brock Kemper, and Cullen Kemper, siblings Gloria Sassman, Frank Morgan (Nancy), Veronica Monsivais, David Morgan (Teri), Robert Morgan (Ruby), Patience Worrel (Brian Beck), and Amity Worrel (Robert Chambers), and many nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends who will miss her greatly.
A memorial service will be held on Friday June 21, 2024 at 1 pm at Condra Funeral Home in Taylor, TX. Lolita’s favorite color was red and she loved wearing red, pink, and other bright colors. As such, the family requests that for this celebration, you honor her by wearing something cheerful and colorful. She would insist! Following the service, please plan to join the family at the Taylor SPJST Hall to celebrate Lolita’s life and share stories and your memories of her with each other.
In lieu of flowers, the family wishes you consider making a memorial donation in Lolita Slagle’s honor to the Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance https://ocrahope.org/
The family of Lolita Slagle wishes to thank the many family members and friends who have visited and brought food and comfort in the past few months. They would also like to thank Dr. Ivan Rosas and the lung transplant team at Baylor College of Medicine particularly Dr. Gloria Li, Dr. Puneet Garcha, and Megan Kenney as well as the caring staff at Magnolia Hospice.
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