Carla Mae Cartwright Salazar
1929-2020
Carla Mae Cartwright Salazar, age 90, of Houston has been called to be with our Lord on Thursday, the 27th of February 2020. She fought a courageous battle with cancer.
She was the second daughter born to Carl Otto & Margaret Cartwright of San Antonio on the 13th of April 1929.
Her father, a native of San Antonio, was Sports Director at St. Mary's University. Her paternal grandmother's family, von Becker, hailed from Germany but were early San Antonio and Texas settlers. Her maternal grandparents lived in Durand, Illinois.
She graduated from high school in San Antonio in c. 1947. She and her mother moved to Houston in 1951.
Carla worked as a medical lab technician in the Hermann Professional Building. She advanced to, Managing Director; where she remained for decades until retirement (in the 1990s).
At a social function for single persons at St. John's Episcopal Church, Carla met her future husband of 33 years, Hector Salazar. A native of El Salvador, he became the popular head tennis professional at Houston Country Club. They were married on the 7th of July 1974, and honeymooned in the Soviet Union. At HCC, Hector taught many children to play tennis, including the five children of Barbara and George Bush. As one of the Bushes lifelong friends, Carla and Hector celebrated Thanksgiving with the Bush family and enjoyed visits to the White House and Kennebunkport, Maine.
Carla and Hector traveled abroad extensively. Eventually, they adopted a cat with the personality of a court jester. Hector named him George. He allowed them to live with him. She loved animals and her cats were a great source of comfort.
Outwardly beautiful, an intellect who loved to share her stories of yesteryear, well-versed on current matters, endowed with long-term and short-term memory, a selfless gentle spirit with a kind loving heart. She enjoyed life and would not let negative thoughts consume her time. Carla was a sweet soul with so many adoring friends; she will be missed by many.
Preceded in death by her parents, Margaret Selden Cartwright and Carl Otto Cartwright; husband, Hector Salazar; aunt, Mae Selden Lusk; uncle, Charles Michael Lusk, D.O.; sister, Mary Elizabeth "Betty" Cartwright and husband, William A. Reiter, Jr.; cousin, Charles M. "Buzz" Lusk and wife, Ursula. She is survived by her nephew, William A."Billy" Reiter, III. and wife, Cheryl, and the extended Lusk family Michaelene "Miki" Lusk Norton, Charlene Lusk Dwyer, Charles M. Lusk III, James E. Lusk, M.D. and Annette Lusk Segura. Caring friends Jacquelyn Dillon and Cheryl Cody.
An interment service is to be conducted at ten o'clock in the morning on Saturday, the 7th of March, at Forest Park Lawndale Cemetery in Houston. Immediately following, all are invited to gather with the family for a reception at Ninfa's restaurant on Navigation.
In lieu of customary remembrances, memorial contributions may be directed toward M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, P.O. Box 4486, Houston, TX 77210.
Please visit Mrs. Salazar's tribute page at GeoHLewis.com where memories and words of comfort and condolence may be left electronically with her family.