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Terry Dean Martin

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Terry Dean Martin of Smithville, Texas, died on Saturday, January 30th at the age of 57.

Terry Dean Martin

Memorial services were held on Friday, February 5, 2021, at the First Baptist Church in Hedley.

He was born February 8, 1963, in Knox City, Texas, to Marion and Jackie McMennamy Martin.

He graduated from Bryson High School in 1981. He spent his early adulthood working in the oil field. He later spent his time cowboying and working in construction and remodeling.

Terry loved to be outdoors and was happiest when fishing. He loved entertaining family and friends with his fishing stories.
He was preceded in death by his mother, Loris Jacquelynn McMennamy Roach; two brothers, Charles Marion, and Timothy Allen; and one sister, Jacque Tonette (Toni).

He is survived by his wife Christine; his children, Brandon, Chelsea, Sierra, Lance, Lisa, Raynie, and Sage. He is also survived by his father Marion Martin; sister, Tangela and husband Ernie Copelin; three brothers, Steve, Stacy, and Jerry Martin; his precious grandchildren Cayden, and Mila; many aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and friends all across Texas and New Mexico.

COVID brings rancher’s last sunset

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By Emma Platoff, Texas Tribune

Not for anything could Raymond Reeves bluff his way through a game of poker. Somehow, his children recall, his face always revealed the hand he’d been dealt.

Raymond Reeves on his ranch in Donley County. Reeves Family Photo

Perhaps it was the honesty, the sincerity, the fundamental good-guy, good-neighbor mentality. Raised in Floydada, in Texas’ sparse Panhandle, Reeves was the storybook Texas farmer and rancher throughout his 91 years, the type of father who would place his children atop a new horse minutes after they’d been bucked off another – no member of his family would grow up fearing animals.

He preferred old western movies and country music, and, like anyone who made a living growing wheat and sorghum in a harsh landscape, he was “addicted to the weather,” his daughter Cindy Reeves remembers.

He loved to sit on the porch in the evening to watch the sky change colors. He’d sometimes call his eldest daughter Carol and say: “I am looking at yet another beautiful sunset that will not be like any other sunset of my entire life.”

In the last years of his life, Reeves, who was divorced, lived alone on the 2,600-acre family ranch, three miles off US Route 287, between Memphis, Texas (population 2,200) and Hedley, Texas (population 300). He had long since stopped driving his truck, though not his John Deere, and he remained active – and fiercely independent. After an October ice storm, so bad it shut off his electricity and forced him to take shelter in his pickup, Carol called a neighbor to check on him. He was not pleased.

When Reeves died he still had 120 cows and calves, down from 300 at the height of his work. That’s not to mention the animals he bought mostly for fun: donkeys, longhorns, llamas. Raymond Reeves did not suffer a mean animal. They would be sold immediately.
Reeves lived through the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl, a world at war and nine months of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States. When he died Nov. 8 in an Amarillo hospital, his children were surprised to hear that complications from the virus had been the cause.

Once most concentrated in the nation’s urban centers, COVID-19 has not spared the rural, rectangular counties of the Texas Panhandle, where meatpacking plants became early incubators of the disease and community spread is now the unfortunate reality. More than 400,000 Americans have now died of the virus, including more than 34,000 in Texas and 10 in Donley County, where Reeves lived.
In Texas, counties with low numbers of coronavirus cases can opt out of the governor’s mask mandate, as a number of Panhandle counties did, and for the most part, wearing masks is more common in the cities.

Danny Francis, a Briscoe County commissioner and survivor of COVID-19 who rented land from Reeves, said early on he didn’t expect so many in his area to contract the virus – nor did he expect it to spread so fast or work so hard. But now, his mind gets stuck on a small rural neighborhood of four households – one of them Raymond Reeves’ – where three people he knows died of the virus last year.
When the virus began to spread in the United States, the Reeves kids, now 63, 59 and 56, struggled to convince their dad to take it seriously, they recall. Before stores and local governments began requiring masks, they pushed him to wear one. At first, the idea seemed ridiculous to him.

“It was very difficult for him to grasp that this was serious,” Carol Reeves said. “He’s been tough and resilient his whole life and he did not understand that he was vulnerable.”

Eventually he promised to wear the mask at Walmart and doctor’s appointments. But they suspected he didn’t always wear it around friends.

“He had this idea that if he was visiting a friend or going into town and seeing someone that he had known forever, that it wasn’t dangerous,” Cindy Reeves said.

The virus tried to corrupt the community spirit that sustained him through his long life. Neighbors and friends became threats. In the spring, despite his childrens’ protests, he did the usual roundup and branding of calves, annual tasks that would have brought other people to the ranch, likely invited in to eat.

“They didn’t see the mask as their way of keeping their community together,” Carol Reeves said. “They saw it as a way to separate one another.”

Raymond Reeves loved his ranch and no one who knew him could imagine him living anywhere else. But the solitude was a double-edged sword. This was the man who’d run into the farm store on a quick errand only to leave his kids waiting in the pickup for 45 minutes as he chatted up everyone he saw. He loved to tell stories – or to correct others’ telling of stories, David Reeves recalled with a chuckle.

“You live out in the middle of nowhere,” Carol Reeves said. “You go to the tire store, and sit there and talk and want to stay and chat as long as possible and tell stories and make people laugh. Everywhere he went there was that connection – because you do live isolated, so you cherish those moments of connection with somebody. The last thing you want to do is offend them by wearing a mask around them.”
The kids suspected he got lonely in his later years. Sometimes when he mentioned this to Cindy, she’d propose solutions, and he’d say, “Well it’s really not that big a deal, Cindy, I just wanted a little sympathy.”

He was generous to a fault, so much so that their mother used to complain that people were taking advantage of him.

He spoke to his children often, and saw them several times a year. One Thursday night in November he called Carol, but she had her hands full and didn’t answer. She called him back on Saturday morning, but he didn’t answer.

They didn’t know yet that he’d fallen. Kathy Turner, who helped him with ranch tasks, arrived that Saturday morning as usual to find the doors locked and no Raymond to greet her. She crawled through the doggie door and found Raymond on the floor by his bed, incoherent, fallen during the night. She got him in an ambulance for the trip to Amarillo.

As David Reeves began the drive from Fort Worth, he imagined he’d find his father dehydrated or perhaps with low blood sugar. It wasn’t until he spoke with the doctor that he realized COVID-19 had caused the brain damage that led to the fall.

By the time the children arrived, the situation was dire.

At first, it was too risky for them to be in the room with their father. Breathing machines can aerosolize a patient’s breath, spreading tiny, dangerous viral particles. Only when he was taken off – the only option, they and the doctors felt – could they go in, masked and gowned, to say a brief goodbye.

Knowing that Reeves lived his last cogent moments in the place he loved most – not forced to move to a nursing home or alien city – softened the loss for his children. But it could not blunt the hurt entirely. For David, it brought to mind a piece of family lore: that Raymond’s mother had fallen to the ground on the ranch while out picking wildflowers, and died not long after.

“If you’re going to go, that’s kind of the way you want to go,” he said.

That ranch still held so much of him – the memories of legendary Easter egg hunts (eggs would be stashed under cow patties, sometimes found months after the event) and of picking out a rare, sometimes homely Christmas tree from the limited selection, decorating it with handmade ornaments. Owning land is an ethic in their family, Carol Reeves said; it would not feel right to sell the ranch. Much of the family gathered there for Christmas this year, celebrating and remembering. They know every inch of the property, their favorite walks and preferred views. It is a place they could never get lost, even if the landscape might look monotonous to an outsider.

That day in November, after Reeves died, there was no tearing of wrapping paper or laughter of children. It was quiet when the children arrived back at the ranch. It felt heavy to enter the home; the sprawling property was “just so him,” David said. They were confronted with his absence; his things scattered on the table, his brown Schnauzer, Reggie, sniffing around, wondering where he’d gone.

 

The Texas Tribune is a nonpartisan, nonprofit media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them – about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues

https://www.texastribune.org/2021/01/26/texas-rancher-coronavirus-death/?utm_source=articleshare&utm_medium=social

EVENT POSTPONED: Methodist youth to host Valentine lunch

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EVENT POSTPONED UNTIL FEB. 28

The public is invited to attend a Valentine’s Day Lunch, February 14, hosted by the Clarendon First United Methodist Youth to raise funds for their upcoming spring break trip to Ceta Canyon.

Donations will be accepted at the lunch, and social distancing and wearing of masks will be practiced by all participants. There are two times slots available for lunch to allow for social distancing. The times are noon and 1:00 p.m. To sign up, visit firstumcclarendontx.org.
The spring break trip is something the youth are looking forward to. With the restrictions of COVID, they did not believe it would be possible this year. However, Ceta Canyon is planning this getaway and will also follow CDC guidelines.

All community youth (grades 6th-12th) are welcome to participate. If interested in going to Ceta Canyon, youth should meet with the church’s youth group on February 6 at 3 p.m. for further details.

Clinic reports total of 18 active cases

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The Clarendon Family Medical Center is reporting eight new cases of COVID-19 in Donley County residents this week. Active cases as of Tuesday afternoon was listed at 18, down four from this time last week. CFMD spokesperson Marsha Bruce said the clinic had received its vaccine allotment to give second doses to people who have already received the first round of vaccination. The clinic has not received any news on when additional doses might be available.

Former Clarendon woman publishes first book

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A former Clarendon woman has fulfilled a lifelong dream by publishing her first children’s book.

Miranda Keelin Ellis said Night Song became available January 21 and has gotten good feedback from early readers.

Miranda Keelin Ellis

“It is about nocturnal creatures, and the sounds they make at night,” Ellis said, who now lives in Pampa. “My goal is to help children with sleep issues and also spark the curiosity of all children who love animals.”

Night Song is meant for children between the ages of two and six but has appealed to children up through age 11.

“Older kids like that there are things hidden in the art,” Ellis said.

Ellis got the writing bug as a sixth grader in Memphis when she wrote her first poem and continued to grow in her love for writing when she transferred to Clarendon schools. As she pursued her love for writing, she started working at The Pampa News as a reporter until she left that job in November to pursue a goal of self-publishing.

Ellis said Night Song has been entirely done herself, including the artwork, which was actually what she started with.

“I got an art app on my iPad and was just experimenting with it when I made a rabbit with a flute,” Ellis said. “That became the inspiration for the entire project.”

Ellis’ rhyming picture book takes children on a magical journey through the night to discover how a rabbit, wolf, owl, frog and bugs all sing together to create the Night Song.

“It goes into the biology of how the sounds are made,” she said. “I took a lot of inspiration from the critters of North America.”

Ellis is also working on two other books, which are both in the editing stages. One is about a boxing kangaroo that is designed to help children deal with emotions, and another is about a little boy who goes on a cheese chase and learns to overcome his fears. A third book will be a fantasy-based book, Ellis said.

Her future works are at least six months down the road. Meanwhile, Night Songs is available for purchase at Amazon.com or folks can contact Ellis directly at facebook.com/MellisBooks/ and get a signed copy.

John M. “J.M.” Dickson

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John M. “J.M.” Dickson, Sr., age 97, passed away on January 25, 2021, in Memphis, from complications following COVID. He spent his life loving the Lord and his family and setting an example of what a good man should be. A graveside service will be held at 1 p.m. on Jan. 30 at Rowe Cemetery in Hedley.

J.M. was born on Dec. 15, 1923, at the Dickson family farm near Hedley. He was the only son and youngest of six children born to his parents, John Green Dickson and Mollie Dukes Dickson.

He married his high school sweetheart, Ida Lou Johnson, on Dec. 7, 1941, as Pearl Harbor was bombed and enlisted in the U.S. Navy shortly thereafter, serving throughout WWII aboard the USS Tennessee (BB-43). After the war, he returned to Hedley where he worked at farming, General Telephone Co., and later moved to Panhandle, where he retired from Pantex. When his wife Ida Lou died after 61 years of marriage, he relocated to Turkey.

He was a member of the Methodist Church and a past master in the Masonic Lodge where he earned his 32nd degree. He enjoyed entertaining others and played his bass guitar and harmonica with the Good Timers band (Panhandle) and Turkey Gems, providing music for thousands of friends throughout the area.

While he loved God, his family, and his country, he also loved to travel, tend the garden, and eat sweets of all types, especially homemade ice cream. Until his health diminished, he faithfully attended Navy reunions and shared stories with anyone who would take time to listen. He never met a stranger and was kind and accepting of all.

The family extends thanks to Marie Cruse, a special friend to J.M. while he lived in Turkey. They studied the Bible together, and she read the scriptures to him for many years after he lost his eyesight.

He was preceded in death by his parents, his wife Ida Lou, five sisters, and his sons, J.M. “John” Dickson, Jr., and Richard.
He is survived by his daughter Linda Dickson Phelan, daughter-in-law Eunice Dickson, seven grandchildren [Donna Dickson Ashley, Brent Dickson (Christine), Leah Dickson Tippin (Larry), Tamara Dickson Burrell (Jeremy), Cory Cooper (Teresa), Kendra Cooper Araiza (Efren), and Carl Cooper], 13 great grandchildren, and one great great grandchild. J.M. was also beloved by his nieces and nephews: Peggy Struble, Dixie Gartrell, Nancy Harris Henderson, Jack Quisenberry, and Tony Mikesell.

Robertson Funeral Directors of Clarendon is handling arrangements, and the family suggests memorials to Rowe Cemetery (Hedley) or Kindred Hospice (Amarillo). The family hopes to hold a memorial service at Hedley’s Methodist Church later this year.

Sign the online guestbook at www.robertsonfuneral.com

Charles Samuel Lowry

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Charles Samuel Lowry was gathered home unto his Maker on the Sixteenth day of January. He was born in Hedley, Texas on August 10, 1930 to Charles Miller and Janie Cousins Lowry. He was preceded in death by his parents and by his sister, Sara Rhea of Amarillo. He is survived by his son, Nick and wife Mary of Memphis, and by his daughter, Debbie Lowry Hartman and husband Delbert of Edgewood, New Mexico. He is also survived by his grandson, Tim Lowry of Memphis, his nephew Don Michael Rhea, niece Melissa Tague, and niece Kathy Bullard, and several great and great great nieces and nephews.

Charles Samuel Lowry

Sam was a beloved member of the community of Clarendon. He attended Clarendon High, graduating in 1948. He went on to attend Clarendon College, Texas Wesleyan University, and West Texas University, graduating with associates’, bachelor’s, and master’s degrees, respectively. He worked for 22 years in education. Most of those years as a teacher for Clarendon ISD, and 16 years for Pantex. He was a devout member of the First United Methodist Church of Clarendon, and of the Donley County Retired Teachers’ Association. Sam was also an avid rockhound from an early age. Hunting, polishing, and cutting rocks was his lifelong hobby.

Sam will be remembered as a true friend to all, and was always ready to lend a helping hand, whether in the community, at his church, or to family and friends. He will be sorely missed, but we look forward to reuniting with him and our Savior some day.

Memorial Graveside services will be held at Citizens Cemetery in Clarendon, 1:00 PM, Wednesday, January 20, 2021. Memorials may be given to the First United Methodist Church of Clarendon.

Mac John Stavenhagen

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Mac John Stavenhagen, 86, died Friday, January 22, 2021.

Graveside services were held on January 26, 2021, at Rowe Cemetery in Hedley, Texas. Arrangements are under the direction of Robertson Funeral Directors of Clarendon.

Mac John Stavenhagen

Mac was born May 28, 1934, in Lipan, Texas, to Ira and John Stavenhagen.

Mac loved life and lived it well. He enjoyed the outdoors, and he was a great example of the phrase, “you have to work to be happy.”
He lived most of his life in Donley County, which he loved greatly. He once said, “there is no more rewarding place to live than a small town.”

Mac’s greatest joy came from being around his family, friends and fellow humans.

Mac was a natural-born businessman. He held a variety of jobs throughout his life — opening a barbecue restaurant, working as a Borden’s milk distributor — but his greatest success was owning Stavenhagen Furniture & Carpet where he partnered with his brother, Bill Stavenhagen. They later incorporated Clarendon’s first video rental store into the business. The brothers then moved the video rental into a RadioShack.

Mac graduated from Lelia Lake High School in 1952 and later served in the U.S. Army where he was stationed in Japan. He also attended Amarillo College.

On June 2, 1956, he married the love of his life, Jean Bailey. Later in life, Mac cherished his farm, where he raised registered cattle and owned a grand champion bull.

An active member of his community, Mac served as an alderman for the City of Clarendon for many years. He was also a member of the Lions Club, the First Baptist Church of Clarendon and the Clarendon Merchants Association.

He was preceded in his death by his wife Jean; two infant daughters, Lisa Gay and Mitzi Gail; two brothers, Ed, James and wife Virginia; and two sisters, Pearline McCuiston and Earline Strand.

He is survived by a son, Steve of Amarillo; two grandchildren, Cody and Casey; two brothers W.G. and wife Liz of Dumas and Bill and wife Annis of Clarendon; a sister-in-law Nita Graham and husband Gary of Memphis; and several nieces and nephews who Mac loved.

The family requests memorials be made to the Rowe Cemetery Association in Hedley.

Sign the online guestbook at www.robertsonfuneral.com

Mary Linn (Tracy) Bills

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Mary Linn (Tracy) Bills of Howardwick “finished the race” on January 23, 2021, at her home.

Visitation will be at Robertson Funeral Directors of Clarendon. The family will receive visitors at the funeral home on Thursday, January 28, from 4:00 – 6:00 p.m. There will also be open visitation from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on the same day. Robertson Funeral Directors is located at 212 Sully St. Clarendon, Texas.

Mary Linn (Tracy) Bills

An outdoor memorial service will be held at Vega Memorial Park Cemetery in Vega, Texas, on Friday, January 29, 2021, at 2:00 p.m.
Mary Linn was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, on February 20, 1926, to Newt Lymn and Mylie Merle (Bills) Tracy. She grew up in Fort Worth, Texas. and graduated from Polytechnical High School and Texas Wesleyan University. She was a lifetime member of the Church of Christ.

Mary Linn was first and foremost a Christian. She was a natural evangelist and teacher. Her knowledge and understanding of the Bible was astounding. She was a loving mother to her children and “all God’s Children.” She was a talented artist and craftswoman with many skills and interests. She was a lover of all books and literature and reader of many, many books. Mary Linn was a gifted singer, and loved gospel music. It would have been very difficult to find a song that she did not know.

Mary Linn and Carroll “Edwin” Bills Sr. were married on January 29, 1948, in Fort Worth, Texas.

Mary Linn and her husband Edwin lived and preached the Gospel in Clayton, NM; Freer, Texas; Hannibal, Mo.; and Clarksville, Texas, during which time their children were born.

In 1964 they moved the family to Vigo Park, Texas, and began their second career, teaching school nearby at the San Jacinto Schoolhouse.  Mary Linn received her master’s degree in Education in 1970 from West Texas A&M University. She taught all elementary school ages in Vigo Park, and First grade at Amarillo Christian School, and in Vega, Texas.

While living and teaching in Vega, she worked with others to establish a public library, while working to become a certified librarian.
After she retired from teaching in 1990, she and Edwin moved to Howardwick. Mary Linn became the librarian for the public library in Clarendon for several years. She said it was her “dream” job.

For many years Mary Linn taught Bible studies through correspondence courses with World Bible School, and some prison ministries. Many people came to know the Gospel through her devoted teaching.

She was preceded in death by her father in 1949, her mother in 1986, her sister Lennice (Tracy) Yucikas in 1995, and her husband in 2008.

Survivors include: daughter Susan Permenter (Bob) of Amarillo; Susan’s son Andrew Jackson of Oahu,HI; Susan’s daughter Amanda Jackson and grandson Wesley Betzen of Amarillo, TX; son Carroll Edwin Bills, Jr. and wife Cari of New Knoxville, OH; and daughters Melinda Fangio (Steve) of Amarillo, TX, Rebecca Hillman (Richard) of Indianapolis, IN, Ruth Randall (David) of Clarendon, TX; and “the son of her heart” Bill Baum – devoted friend and caregiver, of Lelia Lake, TX.

Her extended family and dear acquaintances encompass the world.

The family extends our special gratitude to the caregivers from Caring Senior Services and Kindred Hospice Care. We thank you for your loving concern and tender care.

In lieu of flowers, Mary Linn requested that donations be made to World Bible School, PO Box 2169, Cedar Park, Texas 78620.
Sign the online guestbook at www.robertsonfuneral.com

Patty Joyce Lemons

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Patty Joyce Lemons, 83, of Clarendon died Sunday, January 17, 2021, in Memphis.

Graveside services were held on Saturday, January 23, 2021, in Citizens Cemetery in Clarendon with Rev. Larry Capranica, officiating.
Arrangements are under the direction of Robertson Funeral Directors of Clarendon.

Patty Joyce Lemons

Patty was born February 7, 1937, in Clovis, New Mexico to Hester Henry and Susie Walls Shields. She married Jerry Lemons on September 7, 1974, in Memphis. She had been a resident of Donley County most of her life. She drove a school bus for several years, and was a homemaker. She volunteered with Donley County Sr. Citizens Center for several years. Patty was a member of the Community Fellowship Church in Clarendon.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband; a son, Bryan Myers; a brother, Buster Shields; a sister, Rebecca King; a grandson, Eric Myers; and a great grandchild, Aries Myers.

She was survived by daughters, Vickie Rieken of Borger, Cathy Myers and Janette Harrison both of Clarendon; eight grandchildren; nine great-grandchildren; and five great-great-grandchildren.

The family request memorials be sent to the Community Fellowship Church in Clarendon.

Sign the online guestbook at www.robertsonfuneral.com.

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