Phillip “Hunk” Hermesmeyer

Phillip “Hunk” Hermesmeyer, 88, of Clarendon died Wednesday, October 10, 2018, in Amarillo.

Rosary will be said at 7:00 p.m. Thursday, October 11, 2018, in Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church in Groom. Mass of the Resurrection will be celebrated at 10:00 a.m. Friday, October 12, 2018, in the Church with Fr. Arokia Raj Samala, as the celebrant. Burial will follow in St. Mary’s Cemetery in Groom.

Arrangements are under the direction of Robertson Funeral Directors of Clarendon.
Hunk was born July 26, 1930, on a place sheltered by cedars at the edge of the caprock southeast of Jericho. The Hermesmeyer brothers moved there in 1907 and for 99 years, Hermesmeyers lived and worked there.

“They didn’t know much about Catholics in Jericho,” Hunk said of the time his family settled there. “My family either managed to go somewhere to Church or have the priest come to them.” Hunk was a faithful Catholic his whole life.

Hunk spent his working life taking care of farms and ranches and helping neighbors. He spent many years tending to the Johnson Ranch. He had fond memories of neighbors like Charlie McMurtry and John Blocker. Hunk and his brother Johnny were very active in the rodeo association in Clarendon.

Hunk retired in 2005 and moved to Clarendon. He said he could have moved anywhere, but “this is the kind of people I like.” In retirement, Hunk drove the whole Panhandle collecting an enormous amount of cans and scrap aluminum. Hunk collected pocketknives and had much respect for craftsmen of all kinds. Hunk had a bottomless well of jokes and loved to make friends, neighbors, and strangers laugh.

He was preceded in death by his sweet wife Geraldine; parents, Frank and Nell Hermesmeyer; brothers, Frank “Bud” and Johnny Bill; and sisters, Mary Pauline Kline, Nell Britten, and Bernadette.

He is survived by his sister, Joan Gulde of Amarillo; many nieces and nephews, including Cindy Foster and husband Brett of Borger and their sons, Brady and Brody; as well as Bill Hermesmeyer of Panhandle; and two step-daughters, Jeri Lynn McGowan and husband David and Patricia Ann Coffey and husband Bob.

The family requests memorials be sent to St. Mary’s Catholic Church Building Fund in Clarendon.