Diane T. Breeding

On January 4, 2024, Diane Breeding passed in her home in Round Rock from this life into the arms of Jesus, her Savior. Our omniscient and omnipotent God arranged for all her children to be together with her on the last days of her life.

Born to James and Zoe Travis in Hollywood, California, on October 13, 1936, she moved to Corpus Christi by the time she was 5 years old. It was in that sparkling city beside the sea that she met the Breeding family who visited her church one Sunday. She became fast friends with the three daughters, Peggy, Dorothy, and Carol, but also became acquainted with their only son, “Jimmy,” as he was then called. Eventually, Jimmy and Diane became more than friends as they began dating while he was studying at TCU but while she was still attending W.B. Ray High School in Corpus Christi, keeping in touch with frequent letters to one another. Yet, after graduating from Ray H.S. and enrolling into Del Mar College in Corpus Christi, Diane’s mother decided to move back to California to accept a job with Pacific Mutual, taking her daughters with her. This accelerated the letter writing exchange between Diane and Jimmy to multiple times a week. But in one of those many letters, Jimmy proposed marriage. She accepted the proposal and married James Edward Breeding on August 31, 1956, while he was still a seminary student at Brite Divinity School.

With the birth of two children, James changed career paths that took Diane and the family to Houston, the birthplace of her third child, and eventually to Kingsville. In Kingsville she employed her shorthand and typing skills to get secretarial jobs with Texas A&I and, shortly after, at Exxon where she became an administrative assistant managing the Exxon engineers schedules at the King Ranch Gas Plant. Diane eventually became the mother of four children, to whom she devoted her attention for the rest of her life. While Jim rotated his schedule with shift work at the gas plant, Diane was the stabilizing presence in her children’s lives anchoring the family together at meals and keeping them connected with each other even as they pursued various activities. She taught them the importance of family, kindness and honesty, and “disciplined” by encouragement.

Her loving and caring nature extended to those beyond her family as well. She served those in her church, community, family, and friends just by being available to them. She was loved by the swimmers of the Kingsville Swim Team as one of the “swim team moms” who looked after them during the long weekends of family involved swim meets. Her lifelong enjoyment of scrapbooking was probably motivated in a large degree by the love of her family and community.

In 1992 both Jim and Diane retired and moved to the Georgetown and Round Rock area, becoming members of the Round Rock Christian Church where they served together in many aspects of church life and at nearby Ascension Seton Williamson Hospital in Round Rock. Diane’s faithfulness to her God and her church was always an integral mark of her character. But retirement also sparked a new interest in vacationing and travel–especially cruises–where she continued to turn to family and friends to share those experiences with her. She and Jim were married for fifty-five years until his death in May of 2011. Even after his passing, she remained close to all her sisters-in-law who, as mentioned above, were her friends since childhood. She also was a lifelong pet owner of several cats and dogs. She was especially fond of her dogs. Her last dog, Harlee, was special to her. As she understood the quickening progress of her disease, she was especially mindful of his welfare and future care. Moments before her passing, Harlee walked from his bed to her bedside and cried.

Diane was preceded in death by her loving husband, James Edward Breeding. She was also preceded in death by her mother, Zoe Irene Travis; father James Harvey Travis,Jr.; brothers Bob Travis and Jim Travis; sisters-in-law Dorothy Farmer and Carol Zrubek, and brother-in-law Fred Kramer. She is survived by her sister, Dorothy Meyer and half-brother Jim Travis. She is survived by all her loving children, Jay Breeding (and wife, Susan), Lisa Breeding, Debra Cagle (and husband, Tim), and Laura Arrington (and husband, Kevin). She is also survived by grandchildren Amy Breeding, Janelle Whitehead (and husband, Travis), Andrew Cagle (and wife, Chandler), Travis Cagle, Seth Cagle, Aubree Watkins (and husband, Jake), and Kenzie Arrington. And she is survived by great grandchildren, Ansel Cagle, Kennedy Whitehead, Eli Whitehead, and another great granddaughter Cagle due in April. Finally, she is survived also by in-laws that she loved dearly, sister-in-law, Peggy Kramer, and brothers-in-law, Don Farmer and Franklin Zrubek.

In lieu of flowers, the family has requested that memorial contributions be made in her memory to the ALS Association. (https://donate.als.org/fundraiser/5172069)