Earlene Haywood was born on September 26, 1914, in Floyd County, Iowa to Guy and Mae Barr. After high school graduation she attended the Allen Memorial Hospital Nursing program in Waterloo, Iowa, where she became a registered nurse and eventually worked at Cook County Hospital in Chicago, Illinois.

She met her future husband, Dexter, while working in Chicago and they eloped in Bowling Green, Ohio. She and Dexter traveled and lived in many cities while he worked installing rotary dial telephone systems in various cities. In 1944, Earlene returned to her parents’ farm and worked as a surgical nurse while her husband served in Germany during World War II. Upon his return, they visited his family and settled in Harlingen, Texas, finally moving to McAllen, Texas in 1949 where they opened the Haywood Tile Company.

After Dexter’s death in 1987, Earlene continued living in McAllen and in 1994, moved to Sugar Land to be closer to her family.

Earlene was a member of the Order of Eastern Star, Daughters of the Nile, Chapter HU, P.E.O., and part of the Joy Of Living Bible Study at First United Methodist Church in Sugar Land.

She is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Sara Jane and Larry Levermann, daughter Susan Haywood, grandchildren Ryan and Amanda Levermann, Kyle Levermann and Melissa Posten; nieces and nephews Kevin and Martha Jackson, Barr Pritchard and Allan Weber.

Services will be held at First United Methodist Church, 431 Eldridge Road, Sugar Land, Texas, at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, May 29, 2008.