Lauretta Kay Chaffin, age 83, passed peacefully on August 19, 2022 surrounded by family and friends at her home in Garland, TX. Gregarious, energetic, opinionated and generous to a fault, she had a heart as big as her personality. Lauretta was born February 11, 1939 in Seminole, Oklahoma as the sixth of nine children of Wilma (Sorrells) and Jon Chaffin. The growing family soon moved to Wewoka, previously an oil field boomtown, whose better days were behind it before the family settled in. As the large family made it through hardscrabble times in the tiny home without indoor plumbing or any other creature comforts, Lauretta found joy that would last a lifetime in the simple pleasures of the place: her favorite meal would forever be red beans and fried potatoes with cornbread in spite of its origins as a family staple when the focus was on filling stomachs with love (and starches) when meat was scarce and vegetables too expensive; and at the age of nine, Lauretta gleefully took her four year old nephew (forever considered another "brother") down to the local swimming hole and taught him to swim (amidst the water moccasins!). Graduating from Wewoka High School in 1957, Lauretta moved to Dallas, where older siblings had already settled, the cadre of nieces and nephews was quickly expanding, and where she lived for the remainder of her life campaigning (usually successfully) for then her younger siblings to join the ever-growing Chaffin clan in the area. She quickly found both employment at Texas Instruments and also a lifelong friend Clara Baker, whose daughter, Jane (Baker) Alford, remained close friends and was with her in her final days providing comfort, care, and support. With a heart as equally soft and kind as her head was hard and stubborn, Lauretta was the first to show up when someone needed help. She would do anything for anybody at any time and also shared her thoughts and (very strong!) opinions of exactly what someone should do and precisely how and when it should be done. You always knew exactly where you stood with Lauretta, she made sure of it, "for sure, for sure"! To be around Lauretta meant that you were going to laugh. A lot. She loved high school and college football and basketball, making Christmas candy, eating fried fish, barbeque, Tex-Mex, and pies (teaching us all that meringue is actually "calf slobber"), her dog Muffin, reading, and traveling. Lauretta loved her work in the oil industry, a passion first sparked while growing up in the Oklahoma County that was then the world's largest supplier of oil. She spent nearly a half century working in the business with people that became like family to her, not retiring until the age of 77. She said what was on her mind with a hilarious lack of filter for situation - once saying to her boss "If I didn't love ya like a brother, I'd whup your butt", and telling a beloved family member that they were like a blister, "never showing up 'til the work's all done". But any potential sting from a possible rebuke was impossible given the laughter that came at the same time. Indeed, even the youngest member of Lauretta's family, a baby not yet even a year old, is already receiving Lauretta's lessons that you reap only what you sow as the family has been instructed to read her The Little Red Hen book as often as possible until she reaches the age of 21! She is survived by her siblings Edith Potter, Paulette Vick-Lowdermilk, and Sherry Moon, along also with numerous nieces and nephews that she loved (and admonished!) as if they were her own. Lauretta was predeceased by her parents, brother Ianos Chaffin, and sisters Eula Rainey, Billie Louise Sherrin, Barbara Landers, and Lula Mae Chaffin.

Services will be held at 1pm, September 3, 2022 at Aria Funeral Home, 19310 Preston Rd Dallas Texas 75252.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital or an animal rescue organization.