Elizabeth Lucille Mays Organ went to be with her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ 12/31/15 on what would have been her 63rd wedding anniversary, to Dr. Claude H. Organ, who preceded her in death. A native Houstonian, with roots in St Nicholas Parish, where Elizabeth received all her sacraments and precollege education, graduating at 16, valedictorian of her 1944 high school class. She then matriculated to Xavier University in New Orleans, where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree, graduating cum laude and met future husband, Claude Organ, Jr., of Denison Texas. While at Xavier, Elizabeth was known for her scholarship, as the recipient of the Dr. Percy Creuzot Award for General Excellence and Kappa Gamma Pi National Scholastic and Activity Award, along with her membership and Vice Presidency of Kappa Alpha Mu, a National Honor Society. Distinguished by inward and outward beauty, she served as President of The Legion of Mary and as Prefect for the Sodality of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and was honored to be elected Miss Xavier in 1947. Elizabeth was then to become one of the first black women to complete training to become an operating room nurse Saint Elizabeth’s Hospital School of Nursing in Boston. She married Claude at St. Nicholas in 1952 and raised their seven children in Omaha, Nebraska, where Betty, as she was known, served on local and national medical auxiliaries, supporting the parish school at St. Philip Neri along with the numerous activities of her children, while being an upstanding member of Omaha’s black community. Even as their paths moved them from Omaha to Oklahoma City, and then Oakland, Betty‘s gracious hospitality was experienced by many as she opened her home and heart to surgery residents, patients, colleagues, and friends accumulated as she and Claude traveled the world. Elizabeth is survived by her brother- in-law, Henry Organ, sister-in-law, Claudesta Gould; her seven children and their extended families: Claude and Judith, Brian and Stefani, Paul, Greg, David, Rita, Sandra and Carlos; and 10 grandchildren: Cindy, Danny, Christopher, Connie, Chandler, Henry, Maya, Nicholas, Sherry, and Adelina. She is predeceased by husband Claude H. Organ, Jr. (2005), brother, Edward Mays (2001) and sister in law, Donna Mays (1993). Services will be held in Houston, Jan. 16, 2016. In lieu of flowers, please consider giving a donation to one of the following: The Claude and Elizabeth Organ Traveling Fellowship at the American College of Surgery c/o American College of Surgeons Foundation 633 North Saint Clair, Chicago, IL 60611; or the Claude H. and Elizabeth Organ Professorship in Biology at Xavier University of Louisiana 1 Drexel Drive, New Orleans, Louisiana, 70125. The family is grateful to all the communities who embraced the needs of our dear mother, devoted wife, beloved aunt, and doting grandmother.
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