Funeral today for Annie Heads Rainwater

Services for Annie Heads Rainwater, a lifelong Carrollton resident and civil rights proponent, will be at 1 p.m. Wednesday at First United Methodist Church in Carrollton.

Mrs. Rainwater, 80, died of a heart attack Friday at Humana Hospital Medical City Dallas.

In 1963, she challenged the segregation laws of Carrollton by suing the Carrollton-Farmers Branch school district for prohibiting her daughters Betty and Nancy, ages 11 and 16, from attending R. L. Turner High School.

Nancy Williams of Mesquite, now 46, remembers the bus stops. "The Carrollton bus dropped us off at the intersection of Marsh Lane and Keller Springs," Ms. Williams said, about a mile from the Rainwaters' home. "We were put out there until the Dallas bus came. It was just on the side of the road. There was no shelter or anything. My family owned property and paid taxes. We were not allowed to go to the high school." Ms. Williams and her older brothers first were bused to Booker T. Washington High School in Dallas, then to Fred Moore High School in Denton. Carrollton had a segregated school for African-Americans until high school.

"We were aware of what was going on, we were part of it. It took courage and strength," she said. Of her mother, Ms. Williams said: "She left her faith in God. She was always a strong and independent lady. It taught me to stand up for what I believe."

The suit was settled in spring 1964 when U.S. District Judge Sarah T. Hughes of Dallas ruled for the Rainwaters and another family involved. Ms. Williams and her sister graduated from R. L. Turner.

In addition to Ms. Williams, Mrs. Rainwater's survivors include sons Charles W. Rainwater and Willie Rainwater, both of Carrollton, and Ray Charles Rainwater of Dallas; daughters, Melvine Massingill of Dallas and Betty Kelly of Carrollton; 17 grandchildren; and 18 great-grandchildren.