Maxie Hambright Kohout

On Friday, March 7, 2025, Maxie got her wings and went to walk with the angels. She was 97 years old. Graveside Services for Maxie will be Monday, March 10, 2025,at 11:00 a.m. at the Highland Memorial Cemetery in Stamford, TX with Pastor David Stevens officiating. The family will be receiving friends at the funeral home on Monday from 9:30 until 10:30. Arrangements have been entrusted to Tankersley Funeral Home 807 Columbia Stamford, TX.

Mel Maxie Hambright, daughter of the late Otto Stanley Hambright and Cora Marie (Conder) Hambright, was born in her parent’s home at Norton, Texas on the 9th day of November in 1927.

Maxie began her education in the Norton schools where she started playing tennis and that was her sport throughout life. At the age of 14, she moved to Stamford with her parents and siblings. She was a freshman in high school where she continued with her tennis and went to Regional in UIL playoffs. Maxie’s life revolved around school and church.

Maxie had just graduated from high school when her sister Wannie and boyfriend Carl introduced her to Mr. Howard Kohout who was coming in from the Navy. Maxie and Howard dated continuously from that moment, and were united in marriage on November 9, 1946, at the First Baptist Church parsonage in Stamford, Texas. To this union two daughters were born, Rebecca Ann Kohout and Melissa Kohout.

As a newly married couple Maxie and Howard moved several times in Texas and out of state over the next 2 ½ years with Howard’s job. But prior to the birth of their first child Maxie wanted to settle and to come home to Stamford. The Kohout’s returned to Stamford where Becky was born in 1952. They eventually purchased a home at 1209 Landon and have remained there since 1954 where Maxie and Howard raised their two daughters.

While Maxie worked as a teacher’s aide, she was very active in her children’s daily lives…as a Campfire leader, Sunday school teacher, and member of the Music Club, she also taught private art classes in the afternoons. It was her calling to work with children that is her proudest accomplishment. Maxie organized the first community Bible School in Stamford in 1983.

Maxie attended college at McMurry and Hardin-Simmons in Abilene, and West Texas Junior College. Her course work consisted of mostly religion and art, two loves of her life. As a practicing artist, Maxie has shown her love for the Texas landscape. She has participated in numerous juried and one-man shows, and she has received several awards through the Texas Fine

Arts Association.

She was elected to the Stamford City Council from 1990-94 and was appointed by Gov. Bill Clements to the Reviewing Board of West Texas Council of Governments. In 1991, she founded the Stamford Preservation League to promote the historical preservation of homes and businesses in Stamford. She was honored in 2000 by the Stamford Chamber of Commerce as Woman of the Year. She was appointed by the Jones County judge to be the Chair of Jones County Historical Commission. During this tenure she submitted the nominations for the Texas Historical Marker and the National Historical Landmark for the Jones County Courthouse in Anson and the Swenson Commissary in Stamford.

Feeling called to witness, Maxie always dreamed of being a missionary. This calling was fulfilled though years of service teaching children in Sunday School and finally through trips to Africa as a volunteer to her missionary friends, the Philips. Her first trip was in 1986 to Zimbabwe, where she worked with a group called Crusades for Christ. She worked with children in the church on that venture.

In 1999, she went to The Holy Land, a lifelong dream, with her daughter, Becky, her brother, Tracy Hambright and his wife, Joy. Her second trip to Africa was in 2003 when she went to Kenya and worked with the Cushite tribes. She continued to serve as a prayer leader for that cause.

In the Stamford community, Maxie has served as chair of the Highland Memorial Cemetery board, served on the board for the Coalition Against Crime and Drugs and the Stamford Art Foundation board.

Maxie was preceded in death by her beloved husband Howard Kohout on December 31, 2001, her parents, and her siblings, Wanda Zell Batchelder, Roberta Jo Bohach, Otto Stanley Hambright, Jr., Sherry Tracy Hambright.

Her memories will be cherished by her two daughters, Rebecca Ann Kohout of Austin, Texas and Melissa Kohout, of Fort Worth, Texas: her sister Charlsie Marie Vasek of Arlington, TX, and numerous beloved nieces and nephews.

In lieu of flowers Maxie would have appreciated donations to causes near and dear to her heart; mission work and historic preservation… Samaritan’s Purse 2074 N. 1st St. Abilene, TX 79603, or the T.C.R. Old Timers Association % Annette Wilson 12233 CR 235 Avoca, TX 79503.

Pallbearers will be Bob McIntosh, Joseph Vasek, Gene Hambright, Ryan Jefferies, Chance Hambright and Casey Godfrey.

Online condolences may be made and viewed at www.tankersleyfuneralhome.com.