Hershel D. Baxter

Funeral service for Hershel D. Baxter, 96, of West Monroe will be held at 2:00 PM Monday, November 16, 2015 in the chapel of Mulhearn Funeral Home of West Monroe with Dr. Mark Fenn and Rev. Ricky Baker officiating. Interment will follow in Kilpatrick’s Serenity Gardens Cemetery in West Monroe, LA. Mr. Baxter, who worked many years as a mechanic for Rivers Ford in West Monroe and later, as owner of Baxter Kennels in West Monroe, was born April 15, 1919 in Commerce, TX and entered Heaven’s gates on November 14, 2015. He was a faithful member of First Baptist Church in West Monroe until recent years when Parkinson’s disease made it impossible to attend. Not a big man in stature, Mr. Baxter lived life with fierce but gentle and loving determination. Once when a pastor asked him the secret to reaching his 50th wedding anniversary, he replied, “You’ve just got to hang in there.” That was pretty much his philosophy on life. Despite health issues in recent years, he was able to “hang in there” with his faithful wife Evelyn to reach 72 years of marriage. And a U.S. Army veteran who served his country proudly in World War II in Greenland, Okinawa and Iwo Jima, he managed to “hang in there” several days longer than anyone expected, long enough to see another Veterans’ Day before going to meet the Lord he loved, his real Commander-in-Chief.He loved fishing and gardening, and took great pride each spring in producing the earliest and biggest tomatoes. Mr. Baxter was preceded in death by his parents, W.S. and Ila Baxter; two brothers; two sisters; and one son, Larry Baxter.He is survived by his wife, Evelyn Thomas Baxter; one son, Hershel Baxter, Jr. and wife Pat of Nashville, TN; one daughter, Virginia Pettis and husband Ed of West Monroe, LA; two sisters, Juanita Bullard and Louise Seals both of Winters, TX; six grandchildren; fourteen great grandchildren; and one great-great grandson.Pallbearers will be his grandsons, Joey and Brett Baxter and Rick Pettis, and great grandsons, Cory, Colby and Casey Mulhearn and Christopher and Chandler Pettis.Visitation will be held from 12:30 P.M. until service time on Monday.The family wishes to thank the staff of Louisiana Hospice for their care and compassion during Mr. Baxter’s final days. Online Registry/Condolences: www.mulhearnfuneralhome.com