Obituary: Billie Sue Henna-Cariker

Bille Sue Henna-Cariker, shown here reading to children, co-founded Texas Baptist Children's Home in Round Rock. (Photo / Children at Heart Ministries)

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Billie Sue Henna-Cariker, 94, co-founder of Texas Baptist Children’s Home, in Round Rock. She graduated from Conroe High School and attended Southwestern University in Georgetown and the University of Texas at Austin. In 1950, she and her first husband, Louis, donated 112 acres and five buildings to Texas Baptist Children’s Home. “Mr. and Mrs. Henna dreamed of providing a place where abused and neglected children could find hope and a promising future,” said Todd Roberson, president and CEO of Children at Heart Ministries, a family of ministries that grew out of Texas Baptist Children’s Home. “For more than 65 years, she remained faithfully committed to the ministry and to those served here … to the point of shedding tears as she heard their stories of how their lives were changed by the kindness of strangers.” She was a longtime Bible study teacher at First Baptist Church in Round Rock, where she also served as a pianist and organist. She was a former president of the Austin YWCA and the Austin Woman’s Forum, a life member of the Austin Woman’s Club, a charter member of the Round Rock Woman’s Club and member of the Symphony League of Austin and other civic organizations. She was preceded in death by Louis Henna Sr., who died in 1990, and Joe Cariker, her second husband, who died in 2007, along with her sisters, Etta Margaret Madeley Hill and Lois Madeley Thompson, and her brother, Dan Madeley. She is survived by her children, Suzy Henna Cross, Louis Henna Jr. and Carol Ruth Henna Herber; nine grandchildren; and 22 great-grandchildren.

 


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