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Note: Obituary: EL PASO, Texas, 1979—Catherine Boysen Lawrence, 86, of 9634 Socorro Rd, Ysleta, Texas passed away Saturday at Sierra Medical Center after a short illness. She was born Ida Catherine Boysen to Boy Stephanus Boysen and Mette Catherine Thompson in Brownwood, Texas, both first generation Americans from Germany and Denmark. The Boysens were a close family of six sons and two daughters. She graduated from Brownwood High School in 1911 and attended Howard Payne College. An Early Texas Artist, Mrs. Lawrence was one of the first students in the college's new art department; she excelled in ceramic and water color on paper paintings emphasizing floral and still life subjects in the classic Franz A. Bischoff style.
Mrs. Lawrence married Werther Edward Gehring on October 22, 1913, and they had one child, Catherine Amelia Gehring. The family lived in Galveston and later 5307 La Branch Street, Houston until the sudden death of husband Werther on October 28, 1919 in the influenza pandemic that hit Houston. Mother and daughter moved back to the family home at 403 East Lee Street, Brownwood. She remarried Charles Harrison Lawrence on June 20, 1926 in a ceremony at Fredericksburg, Texas, and they moved to Ysleta to run their Upper Rio Grande Valley cotton farm. She lived in that farm house for the next 53 years. A much loved and admired family matriarch, she was widely and affectionately known throughout Ysleta and the lower valley as "Mammaw."
She was a lifetime member of the Harmony Chapter No. 244, Order of the Eastern Star, and Unity Church.
Surviving are son-in-law Russell Metzger of El Paso; sister Stevie J. Vaughn and brothers Marcus W. Boysen of Brownwood and B. Maurice Boysen of Houston; 3 grandchildren, Patti Ann Coffman of Bakersfield, California, Stephen Lawrence Metzger of San Antonio, Texas, and Carol Lee Cobb of El Paso; 6 great grandchildren, and 11 great great grandchildren. Her daughter, Catherine Amelia Metzger preceded her in 1966. Following a grave side service officiated by Reverend Don Mannoia of Unity Church, she was laid to rest in Restlawn Memorial Park, El Paso, Kaster, Maxon and Futrell, downtown chapel, supervising.
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