Lawrence ‘Sonny’ Atwell Austin

Mr. Austin died Friday, Sept. 19, 2003, at Lawrence Memorial Hospital. He was cremated.

Mr. Austin was born June 30, 1919, in St. Joseph, Mo., the son of Atwell Eugene and Mary Margaret (Stillman) Austin.

He attended school in White Cloud, returned to St. Joseph in 1935 and moved to Lawrence in 1936.

Mr. Austin worked for several construction companies. He also served as chairman of the board for both the Lawrence Housing Committee and Edgewood Housing. He also owned and operated a restaurant in Bartlesville, Okla.

He married Ethel F. Smith on June 30, 1946, in Elwood. She died in January 1988.

Survivors include five daughters, Margaret “Red” Austin, Bartlesville, Okla., Dimeta Austin-Webb, Nebraska, Judy Warrior-Johnson, Rochester, N.Y., Verna Mae Austin, Lawrence, and Katrina Sales, Topeka; three sons, Lawrence Jr., Jackson, Tenn., Mark, Topeka, and Kimbrough, Houston; a brother, Arthur, Lawrence; 36 grandchildren and several great-grandchildren.

A son, James D., and two daughters, Delma V. Austin and Lucille Curry, died earlier.