Carol Annette Willmon Lee

Funeral services celebrating the life of Carol Annette Willmon Lee, 73, of Lufkin will be held Thursday, August 13, 2026 at 11:00 a.m. at TimberCreek Church with Pastor Jeremy Yancey officiating. A private family burial will be held in Largent Cemetery.

Carol Annette Willmon Lee — Annette to most, Nonie to the ones who mattered most — was born on October 21, 1952, in Lufkin, Texas, and went home to be with the Lord on Friday, August 7, 2026 in Lufkin, Texas.

Annette was the daughter of Leroy and Mary Willmon, the annoying little sister of David Willmon, and the bossy older sister of Melba White. She graduated from Hudson High School, and it was at Angelina College in 1972 where the rest of her story really began — when a boy named Gene Lee walked into her choir class. with an Afro and no shoes on. He wasn't enrolled in choir. He couldn't sing a note. But he'd seen her walking to class, followed her in, and when Gene Lee saw something he wanted, he made it happen. He wanted her.

Leroy, however, did not want him. Annette's parents begged her not to marry that boy. But when Leroy died in 2007, Gene Lee was his best friend in the world. Annette must have known something the rest of them would come to learn too. Because she and Gene were married on July 1, 1973, and stayed married for 54 years. There is no one in this world Annette loved more than Gene Lee. Even at the end, names would evade her and faces she’d forget - but she always knew that man. “There’s my baby” she would say, his face, his love, she was certain of.

When Annette was still a teenager, she was asked to fill in on piano at a revival service because the regular piano player got sick. She had never played before in her life. She sat down, realized she could simply play by ear, and never really got up again — the rest of her life would be spent on a piano bench inside a church. She came from a musical family, and along with playing, she could sing. LeRoy, Melba and Annette sang at tent revivals, weddings, church picnics and funerals for zero pay but some really hilarious stories. The Willmon trio - as they were called - served weekly in local nursing homes with southern gospel songs and worship. Annette was a Sunday school teacher, a Bible study leader and for some of her favorite years: a youth leader. For 32 years, she served on staff at Lufkin First Assembly (now TimberCreek Church) as worship director, choir leader, and pianist. It is hard to meet anyone who wasn’t touched by Annette’s ministry to the local church and its people.

For most of her life, Annette could be found in one of two places: the church or the kitchen. She found that both let her do the thing she loved most — serving other people. Her king ranch chicken and her chocolate chip cookies have cured more people than medicine ever has.

Survivors include her husband, Gene Lee; daughter, Melissa Radke and son-in-law David Radke; daughter, Mallory Kennedy; and sister, Melba White. She was deeply close to her nieces and nephews — Scott Willmon and his twin sister Michelle Mettlen, David, Bryan and Scotty Baker, Allan and Christie Jean Rodgers, and the two she tried her best to raise as her own, Meridith and Brandon White.

Annette led a family-oriented and full life, but as she'd tell Gene on occasion, "something just isn't right" — but then in 2006 along came her first grandchild, Remi Hope Radke, followed by Rocco Cooper Radke in 2008; and as you would often hear Nonie say, "now all is right with my world."

Today, Nonie is surrounded by her dad, Leroy, and her mom, Mary. She is, at this very moment, agitating the fire out of her older brother David. She is without a doubt laughing hysterically with her brother-in-law Donald White, and with four of her closest friends — Charles and Charlotte Krenek, Mike Kimmelshue, and Joe Gonzales. She’s reminiscing with the father-in-law she so desperately loved, Lester Lee. I imagine she is walking golden streets with her son Christopher Barron and her grandson Elisha. And of course, if heaven allows gossip, she is relishing every second of it with her best cousins, Beth Willmon and Linda McBroom.

All we can say for certain is that heaven is very, very loud today. The kitchen smells delicious. Stories and memories abound. And somehow, the thought of that sounds so sweet to all of us who are still here.

Pallbearers will be Bryan Baker, Allan Rodgers, Jake Baxter, Scott Willmon, Buddy Timme, and Rocco Radke.

Honorary Pallbearers will be Norman Davis, Jeremy Yancey, Larry Lasiter, Cliff Turgeau, Lawrence Purke, and Andy Salagaj.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made in Annette’s name to Pleasant Hills Children’s Home by going to https://www.pleasanthillschildrenshome.org/ or MD Anderson Cancer Center by going to https://bit.ly/MDAndersonGift.

The family will welcome friends and loved ones from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. Thursday morning prior to the service at TimberCreek Church.

Memories and condolences may be added at www.carrowayfuneralhome.com.

Carroway Funeral Home, Lufkin, directors.