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Ranchwoman Nancy Ethel Mears Spiller passed away February 17, 2004, at her daughter Nancy Smith’s home in Gatesville.
Interment will be at the Spiller Ranch at 2 p.m. on Thursday, February 19, followed by a memorial service at the First Presbyterian Church in Junction at 4 p.m., with the Reverends Jim and Laurie Barker officiating.
Ethel was born March 3, 1905, to Ed and Emma Wilkinson Mears in Menard. She attended Menard schools and graduated from Miss Hockaday School for Girls in Dallas in 1924. She married Roy Spiller in Menard in 1925, and they ranched together for 54 years on their ranch in Kimble county until his death in 1979.
She loved ranch life and livestock. She and her sister, Mabel, were in charge of the remuda on the Ft. Terrett Ranch in Sutton county when their father had it leased for several years during the early teens. Many times they rode horseback down the River Road to Roosevelt just for a soda pop.
She was one of the first Suffolk sheep breeders in Kimble County during the 1940’s, and was the first Beefmaster cattle breeder in the county beginning in 1965. Some of the many organizations she was involved in through the years include the Texas Sheep and Goat Raisers Association, Cactus Study Club, A&M Mothers club, and the Sew and Sew club of Cleo. She was a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Junction since 1938.
Ethel was a great lover of family, friends, travel, and life itself. Whether she was playing solitaire at the ranch, traveling across the world, or helping with goat shearing, Itey (as she was called by her family) always had a good time and was ready for another. Her wonderful sense of humor and positive attitude kept her surrounded by friends and loved ones. She was the heart of her family and will be so greatly missed.
Ethel was preceded in death by her husband, her parents; sisters Camilla Mears and Mabel Vanderstucken and her husband, Joseph, of Sonora; a brother, Ed. L. Mears and wife, Kate, of Menard; son-in-law, Charlie Wright of Plano, grandson, Robert Mears Wright and nieces Jan Vanderstucken and Jane Mears Hall.
Survivors include daughters, Rilla Wright of Plano, Nancy Smith and husband, Randy, of Gatesville, and Dr. Sandra Wolf and husband, Dr. Mont Wolf, of Lawrence, Kansas; a son, Rob Roy Spiller and his wife, B. Lee, of Junction; ten grandchildren, eleven great-grandchildren, two great-great-grandchildren, several step-grandchildren, and nieces and nephews.
Pallbearers are Greer Kothmann, John Ball, Jim Bannowsky, Kenneth Bannowsky, L.R. Hawkins, Bryan Booth, Gene Simon, David Dobbins, Tony Hall and Brodie Caudle.
Honorary pallbearers are Charles Hagood, Hayden Woodard, JoElla Bolt, Ward Whitworth, Mary Craven, Kathryn Kothmann, Pam McPhail, John Cashman, Patricia Borland, Edith Allen, Judy Chenault, Tom Johnston, Johnny Sissel and Katherine Massie, all of Junction, Bill Wilkinson of Menard, Johnny Winslow and Robert Sieker of Kerrville, Red Spiller of Eden, and John Cornish and Eddie Mears of Austin, Jack Jarvis and Melinda Bradford of Austin, and Jo Bess Jackson of Dallas; also, two special family friends, Sally (Blackie) Huffman of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Jackie Crumbley of Anchorage, Alaska.
Memorials my be made to the First Presbyterian Church of Junction, or to a charity of your choice.
Arrangements are by Gentry-Fife Funeral Home. Condolences may be sent to www.gentryfifefuneralhome.com.
Beth Patricia Elizabeth Lindsay Wright, 75, passed away Monday, February 16, 2004, in San Antonio.
She was born March 17, 1928, to Walter Lindsay and Loma Turman Lindsay in San Antonio. Beth and Preston Wright were married September 15, 1947, in Kerrville, then made their home in Junction.
Beth loved beautiful things, and she provided them to our town for 46 years by gifting us with flowers from her business “Lindsay’s” which she operated with her mother Loma Lindsay and her daughter, Becky Hart. It is a gift she also shared with her granddaughter, Lindsay Ensley. Beth was a director on Kimble Hospital board for many years.
She is survived by her husband, Preston; one daughter, Becky; one granddaughter, Lindsay and one great-granddaughter, Kinlee Beth.
Graveside services will be 10:30 a.m. Thursday, February 19, in Junction Cemetery under the direction of Gentry-Fife Funeral Home.
Pallbearers will be Derrick Hoggett, Keith Boone, Jimmy Jones, Jackie Jones, Charles Hagood and Greer Kothmann.
Condolences to the family may be made on-line at www.gentryfifefuneralhome.com.