Obituary of Naomi Sigrid Engle

Naomi Sigrid Robert Engle passed away comfortably and quietly on December 9, 2021, in Pearland Texas. She was ninety and has been surrounded by family and friends these past few months. Our mother was raised in a log cabin with no running water or electricity in Powder Mills, Kentucky. Both of her parents, Edmundo Robert and Carrie Morales Whitlow (died 1940) were gone from her life by age nine. She was a foster child or stayed temporarily with family through most of her teens. She defied conventions by going to business school and working her way up to being a legal secretary. Our mother supported our father, Kenneth Engle, as he earned his undergraduate and graduate degree at UCLA, all while raising three small children. She attended Arizona State University, majoring in Early Childhood Education, and minoring in Library Science, also while raising her family in the gospel of Jesus Christ. She went to Brigham Young University after a disappointing divorce. Mother earned a Master of Library Science and was attending school at the same time as all three of her children James Engle, Marianne Cameron, and Debi Averett were enrolled at BYU. In School she was very active in her studies, work, cultural events, church, and running. After graduation, she managed several libraries and also took a three-year sojourn to Japan as an English teacher and a model. Whatever and wherever she was engaged mom was a natural leader and mentor to those she worked with. Mom loved travel, history, arts, reading and family. She was a devoted member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. She served faithfully her whole adult life at church with a special love for children and the church library. For over the last 15 years she has been retired here in Texas. Mom kept active during her retirement with her family and hobbies, including her daily swimming or walking. She loved going back to her first home Kentucky and sitting by Lynn Camp Creek at our family property. She enjoyed sharing family history and early farm life of our Skaggs, Hudgins, and Gibson lines in Hart County and Morales & Robert lines in California/Mexico. Mom was our hero, mentor, and an example of a Christ like life. Her 5 sisters & brother, 3 children, 10 grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren will miss her until we are all reunited in the next life. There will be a memorial at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Saints building on Gunwale in Houston on December 18th, at 10:30 AM CST. She will be laid to rest on December 30th graveside service at 2:30 PM CST at Gibson-Kessler Family Cemetery on Hwy 569.