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Francis Wallace Sr.
Graveside services for Francis Wallace Sr., 97, Gun Barrel City, were held Nov. 14, 2003, at Lakeview Garden, Wichita Kan., under the direction of Eubank Cedar Creek Funeral Home of Mabank.
Wallace was born Jan. 30, 1906, in Alva, Okla., and died Nov. 11, 2003, at his residence.
He was a painter.
Survivors include his daughters, Elelyn Channell, Seven Points; Lenora Moses, Gun Barrel City; Grace Collins Thomason, Gun Barrel City; Mary Wilcox, Kan.; son, Francis Earl Wallace Jr, Kan.; sister, Myra Smith, Kan.; 27 grandchildren; many great-grandchildren; and many great-great-grandchildren.
Albert L. Armstrong
Services for Albert L. Armstrong, 79, Kemp, were held Nov. 13, 2003, in Eubank Memorial Chapel with the Rev. Leon Batchelor officiating. Burial was in King Cemetery under the direction of Eubank Cedar Creek Funeral Home of Mabank.
Armstrong was born Nov. 8, 1924, in Henderson County and died Nov. 10, 2003, in Ennis.
He was preceded in death by a brother, Sammie Armstrong and a sister, Nettie Hilliard.
He was a rancher and veteran of the U.S. Army during World War II. He was a member of the Disabled American Veterans Chapter 101.
Survivors include his wife, Temple Fayene Armstrong, Kemp; sons, Carl and wife, Janis Armstrong; and Robert and wife, Susie Armstrong, all of Seven Points; daughter, Martha Armstrong, Seven Points; brothers, Billy T. Armstrong, Conroe; Homer S. Armstrong, Conroe; sisters, Jane Shepard, Tool; Wanda Walker, Seven Points; four grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.
Penny Kay Davis
Services for Penny Kay Davis, 50, Seven Points, were held Nov. 14, 2003, in the Cedar Creek Bible Church with the Rev. Bob Parry officiating.
Burial was in Oaklawn Cemetery under the direction of Eubank Cedar Creek Funeral Home of Mabank.
Davis was born July 21, 1953, in Dallas and died Nov. 11, 2003, in Seven Points.
She was employed in a business office.
Survivors include her mother, Leilah Williams, Seven Points; sister, Connie Warnick, Plano; and brother, Herbert W. Williams, Detroit.
Pallbearers were Andrew Warnick, Jason Williams, Jeremy Williams and Jerrod Williams.
Jackie McDonald
Services for Jackie McDonald, 89, Mabank, were held Nov. 18, 2003, at the Eubank Memorial Chapel in Mabank with the Rev. Ron Huckabee officiating.
Interment was in Baker Cemetery under the direction of Eubank Cedar Creek Funeral Home of Mabank.
McDonald was born April 10, 1914, in Sulphur Springs and died Nov. 16, 2003, in Athens.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Roy McDonald; one brother and two sisters.
She was a homemaker and Cedar Creek Pioneer for 30 years.
Survivors include her daughters, Linda McDonald, Hitchcock; Gloria Parker, Kemp; Paula and her husband, Jim Kimball, Payne Springs; 11 grandchildren; 30 great-grandchildren; nine great-great-grandchildren.
Pallbearers were Monte Freeman, Rusty Freeman, Barry Marler, Davey Marler and Kenny Marler.
Florene Key
Services for Florene Key, 95, Athens, were held Nov. 17, 2003, at Eubank Memorial Chapel with Brenda Hargrove officiating.
Interment was in Elm Grove Cemetery under the direction of Eubank Cedar Creek Funeral Home of Mabank.
Key was born Nov. 16, 1908 in Poetry, and died Nov. 16, 2003, in Athens.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Donald Key, brother, Clyde Hitt, sister, Louise Hitt and grandson, Jeffery Key.
She was a seamstress.
Survivors include her daughter and son-in-law, Carolyn and Billy Ivey, Athens; sons and daughters-in-law, Don and Jessica Key, Garland; Ivan and Gayle Key, Gun Barrell City; and Jack and Jo Key, Kaufman; brother, Harvey Hitt, Athens; 14 grandchildren; several great-grandchildren; several great-great-grandchildren.
Pallbearers were Chris Ivey, Curtis Ivey, Ivan Ray Key, James Key, Lance Key, Larry Key, Tony Key, Scott Key and Richard Key.
Roy Elmer Byers Sr.
Services for Roy Elmer "Scooter" Byers Sr., Payne Springs, were held Nov. 15, 2003, in Eubank Memorial Chapel, Mabank with the Rev. Herschel Baucom, Rev. Charlie Woodard and Rev. John Watson officiating.
Burial was in Payne Springs Cemetery under the direction of Eubank Cedar Creek Funeral Home in Mabank.
Byers was born Dec. 14, 1924, in Palacios, to James Samuel and Mattie Lee (Henson) Byers, and died Nov. 12, 2003, at his residence.
He was preceded in death by his parents; brother, Marvin Byers; sister, Mae Boyde Abbott; grandson, Nicky Ballard; brother-in-law, Ellis Harper and nephew, Sammy Harper.
He moved to Henderson County in a covered wagon at the age of four and lived in the Payne Springs, Eustace area ever since.
He served during World War II under Eisenhower during the invasion of Normandy and was honorably discharged.
He was then recalled to train infantry in Lawton, Okla. for two more years.
He and his wife Louise were married Dec. 14, 1946, and worked side by side for 56 years.
He owned and operated the Eustace Feed Store, drove a school bus for the Eustace ISD, baled hay, dairy farmed, worked for and then managed the Farmers Co-op Gin in Mabank, then returned to dairy farming.
He was a member of the Payne Springs Baptist Church, and ruled his family with a strong hand.
He enjoyed playing musical instruments including the guitar, fiddle, mandolin and harmonica.
Survivors include his wife, Louise Boyde-Byers; sons and spouses, Roy Jr. and LouAnn, Payne Springs; James Earl and Linda, Marshall; Ronnie Dale, Payne Springs, daughters and spouses, Betty and Randy Bailey, Caddo Mills; Barbara and Felipe Cuevas, Athens; Janie and Butch Carter, Mt. Pleasant; 13 grandchildren, Stephanee, Melodee, Sabrina, Angie, Brandy, Amber, Katie, Jordan, Trey, Donald, Joshua, Clayton and Lynn; four grandsons -in-law, three granddaughters-in-law, 11 great-grandchildren, Kannon, Zachary, Layee, Levi, Brylea, Kammie, Madison, David, Olivia, Lauren and Dalton; three brothers and spouses, Lonnie Earl and Kay, Eustace; Vernon and Joyce, Athens; Jimmy and Jan, Mesquite; seven sisters and spouses, Claudia and JT Westmoreland, Mabank; LaVern Harper, Willis; Hazel and Leon Weaver, Eustace; Bonnie and John Wilson, Tool; Patsy and Bud Ashton, Trinidad; Shirley and Jerry Works, Arlington; Edie and Stanley Featherston, Trinidad; numerous nieces, nephews, other family member and friends.
Pallbearers were grandsons, Trey Carter, Donald Carter, Clayton Carter, Lynn Byers, Joshua Ballard and Tater Herring.
Dessie Gartrell
Services for Dessie Gartrell, 97, Eustace, were held Nov. 16, 2003, at First United Methodist Church of Eustace with the Rev. Jerry Williams officiating.
Burial was in Goshen Cemetery under the direction of Eubank Cedar Creek Funeral Home of Mabank.
Gartrell was born Jan. 23, 1906, in Provence, Okla., and died Nov. 12, 2003, in Malakoff.
She taught school for 37 years, eight years in Eustace ISD. She was a member of the Eastern Star for more than 50 years.
Survivors include her daughter, Lou Ann and her husband, Mike Beverly, Mabank; sons, Ronnie and his wife, Rebecca Gartrell, Eustace; Thomas and his wife, Linda Gartrell, Cedar Creek area; 11 grandchildren; and 13 great-grandchildren.
Luther Holcomb
The Rev. Luther Holcomb, the religious and civic leader who met President Kennedy at the Dallas Love Field Airport Nov. 22, 1963, and later announced to the crowd waiting to hear him speak that the President had been shot, died late Wednesday, Nov. 19, after a two-week bout with pneumonia. He was 91.
Forty years ago, Holcomb led the stunned audience at the Dallas Trade Mart in a moving prayer, opening with a verse from Psalms, "Lord, lead us to a rock ..."
During the next several days, he ministered to the gravely wounded Texas Gov. John Connally and his family, and later played a key role in fashioning the city's response to the tragedy.
Holcomb died at Cedarview House in Gun Barrel City, where he had lived since 2000, with his daughter, Jan H. Flowers of Mabank, holding his hand. Services are set for 2 p.m. Monday, Nov. 24, in the Memorial Chapel of Restland Funeral Home in Dallas.
Holcomb's public and behind-the-scenes work in Dallas during the 1950s and early 1960s helped Dallas avoid the riots and disturbances that disrupted the economies of cities like Little Rock and Birmingham.
"My father worked with retailer Stanley Marcus, Mayor R.L. Thornton, businessman John Stemmons, utility executive C.A. Tatum, and advertising expert Sam R. Bloom, all now deceased, and others to achieve profound and peaceful change at a time when other cities were being scarred by bigotry and riots.
"They created a coalition of business, professional and labor leaders that laid the foundation for the vitality Dallas enjoys today," his son, Henry J. Holcomb, a staff writer for The Philadelphia Inquirer, said.
Bill Aston, retired president of the old Dallas Power & Light Co., now part of TXU Inc., said the work of Holcomb and others at that time was a "tremendous effort," carried out under the banner "Dallas at the Crossroads."
"Dallas proved that a big metropolitan area in so-called 'redneck country' could peacefully integrate. For years after that, people came here from all over the world to find out how we did it. That was a critical turning point for the city, and Luther was at the center of it," Aston said.
Citing his work in Dallas, President John F. Kennedy had appointed Holcomb to represent Texas on the U.S. Civil Rights Commission in 1961.
In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson named Holcomb vice chairman of the U.S. Equal Employment Commission, then a new regulatory agency created to enforce the employment opportunity provisions of the Civil Right Act of 1964. In 1970, President Richard M. Nixon reappointed him to a second term.
Holcomb's civic posts included serving on the boards of the old Dallas Community Chest and its successor, the United Way, as well as the Dallas Housing Authority.
"He was dedicated to serving others and he had a tremendous love for his country. He was a humble and unpretentious man," Aston said.
Holcomb was born in Yazoo City, Miss., Dec. 19, 1911.
His father, the late Rev. Dr. T.L. Holcomb, was a well-known Baptist clergyman who held high positions in the Southern Baptist Convention - most notably as chief executive of both the Baptist General Convention of Texas in Dallas and Baptist Sunday School Board in Nashville, Tenn.
Holcomb began his clergy career as a traveling evangelist, preaching at week-long meetings called "youth revivals" in scores of cities throughout Texas and the south.
He later held three pastorates - the First Baptist Church of Durant, Okla., the Luther Rice Memorial Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., and the Lakewood Baptist Church in Dallas.
At the height of the Korean War, at the request of the U.S. Air Force chief of chaplains, he went on a preaching mission to Japan and Korea.
Later, he preached at Air Force outposts on the Arctic DEW (Distant Early Warning) Line, which protected North America from attack by the old Soviet Union, as well as at bases in Central America and Europe.
From 1958 until he left for Washington in 1965, he was executive director of the Greater Dallas Council of Churches. In that role, he continued his work for improved race relations and established full-time chaplaincy programs at Parkland Hospital and at the Dallas County Jail.
He was a long-time active member of the Downtown Dallas Rotary Club.
Holcomb is survived by his wife of 65 years, Mrs. Elaine Parks Holcomb; son, Henry, a staff writer for The Philadelphia Inquirer and former managing editor of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram; daughter, Jan Flowers, a special education diagnostician for the Mabank Independent School District; and sister, Louise Layden of Tucson, Ariz.; three grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.
Roy Elmer Byers Sr.
Services for Roy Elmer "Scooter" Byers Sr., Payne Springs, were held Nov. 15, 2003, in Eubank Memorial Chapel, Mabank with the Rev. Herschel Baucom, Rev. Charlie Woodard and Rev. John Watson officiating.
Burial was in Payne Springs Cemetery under the direction of Eubank Cedar Creek Funeral Home in Mabank.
Byers was born Dec. 14, 1924, in Palacios, to James Samuel and Mattie Lee (Henson) Byers, and died Nov. 12, 2003, at his residence.
He was preceded in death by his parents; brother, Marvin Byers; sister, Mae Boyde Abbott; grandson, Nicky Ballard; brother-in-law, Ellis Harper and nephew, Sammy Harper.
He moved to Henderson County in a covered wagon at the age of four and lived in the Payne Springs, Eustace area ever since.
He served during World War II under Eisenhower during the invasion of Normandy and was honorably discharged. He was then recalled to train infantry in Lawton, Okla. for two more years.
He and his wife Louise were married Dec. 14, 1946, and worked side by side for 56 years. He owned and operated the Eustace Feed Store, drove a school bus for the Eustace ISD, baled hay, dairy farmed, worked for and then managed the Farmers Co-op Gin in Mabank, then returned to dairy farming. He worked hard and ruled his family with a strong hand.
He was a member of the Payne Springs Baptist Church. He enjoyed playing musical instruments including the guitar, fiddle, mandolin and harmonica.
Survivors include his wife, Louise Boyde-Byers; sons and spouses, Roy Jr. and LouAnn, Payne Springs; James Earl and Linda, Marshall; Ronnie Dale, Payne Springs, daughters and spouses, Betty and Randy Bailey, Caddo Mills; Barbara and Felipe Cuevas, Athens; Janie and Butch Carter, Mt. Pleasant; 13 grandchildren, Stephanee, Melodee, Sabrina, Angie, Brandy, Amber, Katie, Jordan, Trey, Donald, Joshua, Clayton and Lynn; four grandsons -in-law, three granddaughters-in-law, 11 great-grandchildren, Kannon, Zachary, Lacie, Levi, Brylea, Kammie, Madison, David, Olivia, Lauren and Dalton; three brothers and spouses, Lonnie Earl and Kay, Eustace; Vernon and Joyce, Athens; Jimmy and Jan, Mesquite; seven sisters and spouses, Claudia and JT Westmoreland, Mabank; LaVern Harper, Willis; Hazel and Leon Weaver, Eustace; Bonnie and John Wilson, Tool; Patsy and Bud Ashton, Trinidad; Shirley and Jerry Works, Arlington; Edie and Stanley Featherston, Trinidad; numerous nieces, nephews, other family members and friends.
Pallbearers were grandsons, Trey Carter, Donald Carter, Clayton Carter, Lynn Byers, Joshua Ballard and Richard "Tater" Herring.
