Sarah Lorena Warren

Sarah Lorena Forsythe Warren, age 78, of Bryan, Texas, formerly of Madisonville, Texas, passed away surrounded by family on Friday, November 12, 2021 after a tough battle with complications from Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency.

A seventh generation Texan, Sarah was born at home on October 8, 1943 in Lufkin, Texas, she was the daughter of Agee and Violent Forsythe. She was the fifth of seven children. On September 8, 1962 Sarah married James F. Warren in Houston at St. Mark’s Methodist Church. They had two children, Kimberly Anne and Robin Michelle.

Sarah was a 1961 graduate of Reagan High School in Houston and received her Bachelor and Master’s degrees from the University of Houston. While attending school, she worked a variety of retail and public service jobs. She began her education career at Temple Oaks Baptist School in Houston as a teacher, and then shortly advanced to principal. Before moving to Madisonville, she taught for H.I.S.D. at Scarborough High School. In 1979, her family moved to Madisonville, Texas, where she taught seventh and eighth grade social studies for a few years. Then, she became principal of Madisonville Intermediate School, where she remained until she retired in 2006 after her thirty-three year commitment to Texas schools.

Sarah was very creative and had a wide variety of hobbies and interests. As a young adult, she enjoyed oil painting, politics, and camping and boating with her family. For many years she hosted and planned parties, showers, and ceremonies. She had a love for history and spent many hours researching family genealogy. She put together sixty-six binders of detailed genealogy research and could tell you the most interesting details about any ancestor. She wrote a skit about her great-great-grandfather which was performed by family members for 3 nights at the Natchez City Cemetery. Sarah was famous for her coconut cream and chocolate pies and loved cooking delicious meals for her family. She loved to travel across the United States and abroad. She’s hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon with her girls and nieces several times. To pass along her love of history, she planned family vacations to many national parks and historical locations as her grandchildren grew up. In recent years, she spent a lot of time landscaping, finding period dramas on streaming platforms, and watching treasure hunting reality shows. One of her favorite dramas was Call the Midwife and she’s still waiting for the treasure to be found on Oak Island. One of her greatest pleasures was being a member of the Capt. John McAdams Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Rev. John Haynie Chapter of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas. She spent many hours helping others with their genealogy to prove their ancestry for membership and also digitizing national DAR records.

In addition to her parents, Sarah is preceded in death by her sister, Juandell Bonnell Forsythe; her brother, Manual Forsythe; her brother-in-law, John Wade; two sisters-in-law, Sandy Forsythe and Rosemary Sharp; niece and nephews, Gaylyn Forsythe Leider, Kenny Forsythe, and Richard Forsythe.

She leaves behind to cherish her memory, her loving and devoted husband of 59 years, James; two daughters, Kimberly and husband Bret Hall of Franklin, Tennessee and Robin and husband Glenn Batson of College Station, Texas; five grandchildren, Ethan Hall, Abby Hall-Meehan, Megan Batson, Andrew Batson, and Anna Batson; two great-grandchildren, Fiona and Beau Meehan; brother, John Forsythe of Cypress, Texas; three sisters, Nelda and husband Norman Lawrence of Tyler, Texas, Glenda Wade of Knippa, Texas, and Patricia and husband Doug Allen of Nederland, Texas; sister-in-law, Kay Forsythe of Cypress, Texas; aunt, Estelle Brock of Texarkana, Arkansas; very special nieces and nephews, Teresa, Stephanea, Bonnie, Lisa, Stacey, Darynda, John, and Jennifer; cousins; her teachers and friends.

The family will receive friends at the Madisonville Funeral Home on Monday, November 15th from 5:00 - 7:00 pm. A private family graveside service will be held at Fielder Memorial Cemetery in Bald Hill, Texas.

As an expression of sympathy, memorial contributions may be sent to
Capt. John McAdams DAR, Madisonville Chapter
or
Rev. John Haynie DRT, Madisonville Chapter.
℅ Pat Stephenson, 103 E Crescent Dr, Madisonville, TX 77864