Gene Odell, Jr.

Gene Odell, Jr.,an educator, coach, and counselor of young people for almost 40 years, whose chance meeting of a young Cleo Shaffer on a tropical vacation turned into a love affair and marriage of 51 years, died of complications from heart failure June 24 at the age of 79 in Amarillo, Texas.

Memorial services will be private. Cremation and Arrangements are by Robertson Funeral Directors of Clarendon.

Mr. Odell (or Coach Odell, as he was known to his players, even years after they graduated) started his coaching/teaching career in 1954, after a distinguished football career at Texas Western, where he was a team captain, All-Border Conference End and, in 1985, was inducted into the El Paso Athletic Hall of Fame.

Across the span of 38 years in education, he was teacher, coach, principal, superintendent and counselor to many young people in El Paso, Marfa, and Fort Davis. His career was studded with honors, including several district championships at Bel Air High School in El Paso in football, basketball, and golf, as well as being a respected counselor. He was principal at Marfa High School for eight years and Superintendent of the Fort Davis Independent School District for three years. Gene was very well known and appreciated by former players and students, so much so that his family teased (and quietly took great pride) that he could not venture anywhere in West Texas without being greeted by a former player or student. He once said winning “wasn’t as satisfying to me as students coming back in later years and telling me I had a great influence in their lives.”

His long and happy marriage to Cleo started after they met vacationing in the Bahamas, he from Texas, she from Pennsylvania.

She joked he used a tropical rum drink to make her to miss her flight, leading to an extended stay and start of a long relationship.

But their children long suspected it was love at first sight for them both. They met in June for a week, both went back to their respective homes, and were married three months later on September 24, 1960. Fifty-one years later, he was still opening doors for her.

Though his primary passion was helping and guiding young people, Gene developed and enjoyed many strong friendships. He made friends through the years, from childhood cohorts to high school and college teammates, to fellow teachers and administrators, to retirement golf buddies. Gene’s friends were dear and important to him, and he enjoyed staying in touch and spending time with all of them.

In addition to Cleo, Gene is survived by his three children and spouses (Lori and Stan Leffew, Cindy and Greg Ward, Greg and Shelly Odell), six grand children (Jessie, Mandy, Matt, Lauryn, Ryan, and Riley), and five great grandchildren (Cole, Avery, Madyson, Titus, and Pierce). Although he is deeply missed, his legacy of hard work, being a good person and treating others as you want to be treated, lives on as a profound example to them all.