Carla Cavender

Carla (Wilke) Cavender, 67, of Wilson, passed away on Tuesday evening, June 28, 2022.  She was born on March 5, 1955, in Lubbock, Texas to Mary Frances (Campbell) Wilke and the late Carlton Wallace Wilke.

Carla attended Wilson High School, graduating with the senior class of 1973.  Following graduation, she lived in Lubbock, Austin, and California before moving to Michigan in 1984.  In 1991, she returned to her home state of Texas.

Carla worked in the Texas Tech Southwest Collection, school of architecture, and research services as a research services administrator, before retiring in 2013.  She was a voracious reader, volunteered at the Tahoka library, loved to travel and visit her two sons, and their families, and grandchildren, spending time with her mother, the occasional gardening, and enjoyed movies and lunch outings with her friends.  Carla had a vibrant personality that would let her make friends with anyone she met.  She was a member of the First Baptist Church in Wilson.

Those left to cherish and honor her memory include two sons, Jamie Mick Christopher Cavender and his wife Annabelle of Grapevine, Texas and William Carlton Cavender and his wife Jessica of Palm City, Florida; her mother, Mary Frances Wilke; two brothers, Wesley Carlton Wilke and Kendall Wade Wilke, both of Wilson, Texas; two sisters, Dina Jean Tehan of Carrollton, Texas and Janet Frances Ibarguen of Dallas, Texas; four grandchildren, Alexander, Caleb, George and Sara.  She was preceded in death by her father, Carlton Wallace Wilke on July 4, 2016.

There is no visitation planned.  Funeral services for Carla will be held at 10 AM on Saturday, July 2, 2022, at the First Baptist Church in Wilson, 1403 13th Street.  Brother Billy Parmer will be the officiant for the services.  Final rites and interment will follow in the Green Memorial Park Cemetery, in Wilson, under the personal care and direction of Combest Family Funeral Homes.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations in Carla’s memory be made to the First Baptist Church in Wilson or to the Tahoka Library.  The Cavender family appreciates your acts of kindness, cards, and memorials.