Brenda Lea Wind

Brenda Lea Hamilton Wind, 70, of Andrews County, Texas, went home to be with her Lord on Sunday morning, August 23, 2026, in the same county where she was born on March 19, 1956, to Ramona Jestine (Hock) Hamilton and Leland W. Hamilton. ALS is a cruel disease that stole her ability to communicate, to eat, and to sing and dance. Yet those who loved her take deep comfort knowing she is now singing and dancing on the streets of gold in Heaven with her sweet Savior, reunited with those who have gone before her. Anyone who knew Brenda knew she had been married more than once. She would laugh and remind us all that only two of those marriages truly counted - Arlie Francis, the father of her children, and Jeff Wind, the love of her life. Brenda lived life to the fullest and was always quick to tell the rest of us to take it one day at a time. She faced plenty of adversity (and she would be the first to admit that some was of her own making), but she never stopped relying on God's grace and mercy to pull her through. Right up to the end, He was her strength. When she received her ALS diagnosis in December 2025, she had just learned she was going to be a great-grandmother. Brenda set one final goal for herself: to live long enough to welcome her great-grandson, Malachi, into the world. She got her wish when Malachi was born on June 27. For more than 25 years she poured herself into the beauty industry-as a salon owner, educator, day-spa manager, and one of the people who helped open Houston's first male-only salon. Later she spent 20 years as an office manager in finance and then oil and gas. She loved the sun and the sand, and her favorite getaway was always the islands of the Gulf of America. She also loved gardening, but after getting sober in 1986 her true passion became sponsoring newcomer women in Alcoholics Anonymous. The friendships she made there lasted a lifetime. In the flood of messages after she passed, the same words kept coming up again and again: sweet lady, dear friend, lifesaver, vivacious, full of life. Brenda is survived by her three siblings-brother Richard Hamilton and his wife Cathy of Anderson, Texas; sister Angela Vaughan and her husband Bryan of Odessa, Texas; and sister Julia Wallace and her husband Scott of Andrews, Texas; her two daughters, Charity Francis of Austin and Celeste Cline of Midland; her three grandchildren, Emily Jestine Francis and her husband Noah Shepherd of Austin (parents of great-grandson Malachi Noah Shepherd), Johnny Beavers of Houston, and Xander Cline of Midland, Texas; and a whole host of nieces, nephews, and other grands who adored her. A Celebration of Life will be held following cremation at First Baptist Church in Andrews, Texas, on Saturday, September 19, at 11:00 a.m. In lieu of flowers, Brenda asked that donations be made to the ALS Association to help find a cure.

Brenda Lea Wind

March 19, 1956 - August 23, 2026