Alice Thaxton

On December 30, 2025 our beloved wife, mom, mother-in-law and grandmother passed from this world to eternal life with her Heavenly Father.

In 1936, Alice was the 11th and final child to be born to Ernest and Vida (Watkins) Whitaker. She was predeceased by her parents and 10 siblings: brothers Wilbur, Estel, Robert, Delbert, Jack, and Vernon “Pete” Whitaker and sisters Irene Carroll, Virginia Cairns, Evelyn Wendle, and Betty Cotton.

Alice was in high school, working for Helen and Arthur Thaxton, helping to cook, clean and care for their children; she was engaged and planned to be married. In 1953, the Thaxton’s son Art “Bill” returned from Korea; Alice took one look at him and the engagement was over. In 1954 Alice married Bill, the love of her life. They were married more than 71 years. He survives.

Their marriage was blessed with two children, Valerie and Anthony “Tony” (Tammy) and a granddaughter Valerie Kathleen “Katie.” Alice had always wanted to be a mom and a grandmother and she was one of the best. She was proud of her family and was such a caring and supportive mom and grandmother, never missing a baseball or softball game, class play, dance recital or an event that featured one of her children or Katie. Valerie, Tony, Tammy and Katie survive.

Mom, a great cook, learned to cook at the apron strings of her mother who had 11 children, so Mom never made a small batch of anything! She specialized in country cookin’ “comfort food” before Cracker Barrel and Paula Deen made it trendy. Her baked beans, beef and noodles and taco salad were always the first dishes to be eaten at family picnics. Even though she was a great cook, she was not an adventurous eater. She often said she would not eat anything that swam, hopped, flew or ran up a tree.

Mom did not like the limelight. Pre-COVID she often served funeral dinners at her church. You could find her washing dishes or cleaning up the kitchen - she always preferred being in the background, no matter the situation.

She was a trusted friend and confidant.

Mom loved to take trips with her friends and family. She was the first one in the rented minivan and usually had the heaviest suitcase. She loved to go to Spring Training in Florida and to attend outdoor markets in Indiana, Texas, Ohio and Nashville. In route, she wanted to stop at every outlet mall, antique shop and Amish buffet.

She loved holding chubby babies, simple picnics with Dad by the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, watching the St. Louis Cardinals, attending outdoor concerts by her favorite singers--Rod Stewart, Willie Nelson, John Fogarty and others, walking through new display houses, Dillard’s end of season clearance sales, sending kids who needed financial assistance to church camp, walking through nurseries in the spring and then working in her flowerbeds, basset hounds and dinners on the deck with her family.

We will miss her terribly, but we have many fond memories and funny stories upon which to draw as we think of her. She was a remarkable woman with a great sense of humor.

Anderson Family Funeral Home has been entrusted with the arrangements, all of which are private. Condolences may be left online at www.andersonfamilyfuneral.com.

Persons who wish to may honor her memory by doing a kind deed for someone or by supporting her favorite charity, Backstoppers, an organization that provides support for the families of fallen and catastrophically injured police, firefighters, and EMTs per her wishes. Tribute gifts may be made at Backstoppers.org or Backstoppers at PO Box 795168, St. Louis, MO 63179.