Penny Ann Cook Eckhardt

1 John 4:7

God's Love and Ours.

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God (NIV).

The closest any of us will come to God's Love while here on Earth is a Mother's Love. Penny Ann Cook Eckhardt loved unconditionally. She was born on December 10, 1942, in Waco, Texas to Durward Millus (Pat) Cook and Katy Jo Coats. Her parents were high school sweethearts that had her at a very young age and remained married until death parted them 68 years later. She was raised in Houston, Texas with two younger siblings Vicki Lee Cook Fox and Patrick Kelly Cook who have preceded her in death and was a proud member of the 1961 graduating class of Spring Branch High School. She met her first husband at that school and after graduation was soon married to Donald Kent Eckhardt and proudly helped him through law school at the University of Texas. Two sons followed and Donald Kent Eckhardt, Jr and William Randolf Eckhardt soon joined the world and Penny found her purpose. She was meant to be a mother and loved and is loved by many of the boys who frequented her home and kitchen during the years that her boys were at home. All marriages do not last 68 years and when the boys were nine and six, she found herself to be a single mother of two. She transitioned from being a fulltime housewife and mother to a successful realtor, executive assistant and eventually the entrepreneurial owner of two travel agencies. She later found love again and was married to Byron Kent Eckhardt, Jr. for a dozen years.

Penny was a true southern belle and was probably born in the wrong era. She was known to say, "fiddly dee" and sometimes personified Scarlet O'Hara. She was quick to help those that needed her help but enjoyed being treated like a queen. She instilled toughness and a never quit attitude in her son's both by instruction and example. She loved to travel and was able to see much of the world while she was with us. Her most recent excursion before she became sick was a two-week luxury trip to Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam with her granddaughter Delaney four years ago. She was a talented artist and has done many paintings. She was teaching art classes at her assisted living facility in recent months. Penny was tough, she fought off three types of cancer with little complaint and eventually succumbed to the Covid virus on January 29, 2022, with her son Donny by her side. There was much prayer and Penny knew she was soon to be restored to her young, healthy, and beautiful self in God's presence with Jesus Christ by her side. At the end, she smiled widely when we prayed. Her often stated mantra, was, "I am doing the best that I can". Well Mom, you did a pretty good job, thank you!!

Along with her two sons, she is survived by her daughters-in-law, Kari Jill Wagnon Eckhardt and Elizabeth Taylor Eckhardt. Grandchildren: Donald Kent Eckhardt, III, Delaney Lynne Eckhardt, Sean Riley Wagnon Strakos, Gracie Mckenna Eckhardt, Presley Eckhardt and

William Townsend Eckhardt. Sister-in-law Cathy Coker Cook and brother-in-law John Fox. She loved and was loved by many of her cousins, nieces, and nephews.

She was preceded in death and has certainly already had a joyful reunion with granddaughter Darian Kendall Eckhardt.

There will be a Memorial service at Wildwood United Methodist Church 8911 FM 1488 in Magnolia, Texas on Friday March 4, 2022 at 2:00 P.M.