Jewell M. (Driver) Neill Burgdorff

Jewell M. (Driver) Neill Burgdorff, age 97, a resident of Whitney and previously of Clifton, passed away Saturday, October 22, 2022.  Graveside services will be held at 10:00 a.m. Thursday, October 27, 2022, at Clifton Memorial Park.  Visitation will be held from 7:00-9:00 p.m. Wednesday, October 26, at Clifton Funeral Home.

Jewell was born March 1, 1925, in Springfield, Missouri, to the late Leitus V. and Hattie Lou (Balch) Driver.  She married the love of her life, the late Vernie Neill, soon after World War II in Cullman, Alabama.  Their marriage took them to Flint, Michigan, where Vernie went to work for General Motors and Jewell started her studies and earned a nursing degree.  She worked many years as a nurse in McLaren Hospital in Flint and as a private duty nurse until she and Vernie were able to adopt their daughter, Alice Marie.  It was then that Jewell stopped working to devote herself to being a loving, fulltime wife and mother.  They eventually retired and moved back to Alabama and then to Clifton, Texas.  Their marriage lasted 53 years until Vernie’s death.  She later married Herman Burgdorff.  Following Herman’s death, she moved to Whitney to be closer to her daughter and family.

Jewell was a member of First Baptist Church Clifton, where she taught Sunday School in the children’s department and served as a teacher during Vacation Bible School.  She had a true servant’s heart and loved to teach all little children about Jesus.  She was a talented seamstress and loved cooking.  She took great delight in spoiling her family with wonderful meals of home-cooked food, which always included her famous mashed potatoes for her grandchildren.

She was also preceded in death by her twin sisters, Evelyn “Weasie” Fuqua and Betty Parker and brother, Leitus Driver.

Survivors include her daughter, Alice Marie Hancock and husband, Mark, of Whitney; grandchildren, Matthew Edmondson and wife, Samantha, of Burleson, Malarie Shires and husband, Josh, of Helena, AL, and Chase Hancock of Whitney; and great-grandsons, Noah and Ryder.

Special thanks to the employees of CCRC (Country Club Retirement Community, Assisted Living, Whitney, Texas) and Baylor Scott & White Hospice Care, Waco, Texas.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in Jewell’s name to Samaritans Purse for Operation Christmas Child.