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Gib James Martindale
Gib James Martindale, 49, died Tuesday, September 28, 2010, in Amarillo.
Memorial services were held at 10 a.m. Saturday, October 2, 2010, in the First Baptist Church in Clarendon with Rev. Eddy Helms, Pastor of the Calvary Baptist Church of Tulia, officiating. Cremation and arrangements were under the direction of Robertson
Funeral Directors of Clarendon.
Gib James Martindale Sr, died at the North West Texas Medical, Odyssey Hospice center in Amarillo Texas, following an extensive stride in and out of the hospital.
Although Gib was never specifically diagnosed with an illness he suffered from septic shock, kidney failure, swollen lymph nodes, and joint pain in his first extensive stay in the hospital. During the following months the Martindale family was blessed with more time with Gib. He suffered during several stays in the hospital with different behavioral and personality changes, as well as congestive heart failure, low blood pressure, low oxygen, and fluid filling his lungs at a rapid rate.
Born and raised in Collingsworth County, the son of James Coy Martindale and Sherrie Christine Grogan Martindale, he was a lifelong resident of the great state of Texas. In his early years, Gib would help his father James work on the family farm. After graduating from Samnorwood High School in 1979, he joined the United States National Guard and began a life’s long journey of hard work.
He met his former wife, mother of all four children Beverly Sue Terrill Martindale in Summersville, Missouri, and they were married in 1982 in Emience, Mo. After nineteen years of marriage Gib and Beverly divorced but kept a close friendship.
After serving with the National Guard, Gib began working in his trade.
He would take the knowledge and experience given to him by his father and apply that in the world of the self employed.
Gib spent most of his life “fixing things” he worked in auto maintenance, plumbing, carpentry, and seasonal jobs such as farming peanuts and hauling hay or cotton burrs.
Gib took all four of his children to work with him. Whether in the hay fields or cutting mesquite trees, Gib spent time teaching his children the value of hard work.
Gib had a passion for hunting and spent most of his spare time out in the fields of his father’s land hunting deer or quail. Gib shared some very special memories with his sons, son-in-laws, and brothers on the land, hunting game.
Gib was a member of the 11th Street Baptist Church in Shamrock Texas during his time of death, and the family would like to extend an enormous amount of gratitude to those members who were so kind, giving, and loving during his last struggle. Gib was also an active member at the Martin Baptist Church and the First Baptist Church in Clarendon.
He was preceded in death by his father, James C. Martindale, on February 25, 2003.
Survivors include his mother, Sherrie Martindale of McLean; Gib James Martindale, Jr., and wife Kimberly and Dusty Martindale, all of Amarillo; two daughters, Brandi Surman and husband Jon of Friona, and Kayla Mendoza and husband Manuel of Virginia; two brothers, Kim Martindale and Scott Martindale both of Wellington; a sister, Leitha Watson of Clarendon; and three grandchildren, Wyatt and Garrett Surman of Friona and Evan Creed Martindale of Amarillo.
The family requests that memorials be to the Eleventh Street Baptist Church in Shamrock.
Silas Bailey Estes
Silas Bailey Estes of Clarendon was born in Brice on February 12, 1922 the youngest of five children to James Bailey and Margaret Leila (Cross) Estes.
He passed away on October 5, 2010 at the age of 88. Celebration of life services will be held at First Baptist Church on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. Bailey’s nephew James Dickson will officiate. Burial will follow at Citizens Cemetery by Robertson Funeral Directors of Clarendon.
Visitation will be held on Friday from 5-7 pm at Robertson Funeral Directors.
Bailey graduated from Lakeview High School in 1941. He served in the U.S. Army from l944-1946 of which he served nine months in the European Theater of Operations during WWII. Bailey married Mary Prudhomme in 1944. Bailey and Mary had one daughter, Toza Estes Nelson.
Mary passed away January 7, 1951. Bailey then married Louvetta Cowan May 8, 1952, in Clarendon and they had two children, Stephen Bailey and Melissa Estes Butts. They lived in Clarendon until 2007 when they moved to Lubbock but never considered any place “home” except Clarendon.
Bailey was a Certified State Bridge Welder for Texas and was called to bridge construction all over the state. He owned and operated Estes Welding Shop, Estes Storage units, various rental properties, and also constructed metal buildings. He stayed active and working in the community until he had a stroke at the age of 84. A wonderful father, husband, uncle, and friend, Bailey loved the Lord, his family, and his friends. He was a longtime member of First Baptist Church of Clarendon. Fishing (especially deep sea fishing), hunting, drinking coffee with his buddies, singing and playing the guitar (or keyboard by ‘ear’) were his favorite pastimes.
Bailey had a loving and generous heart of gold that quietly touched many who needed help whether it was it a friend, family, or a stranded or hungry stranger passing through town. Bailey Estes was preceded in death by his parents; wife, Mary Prudhomme Estes; brother, James Bailey Estes; sisters, Gladys Baten,
Ila Mae “Jimmie” Dickson, and Juanita Dillon; two nephews, one niece and numerous in-laws. Survivors include his wife of 58 years, Louvetta; son, Stephen Bailey of Clarendon; daughters, Toza Nelson (husband Don) of Lubbock and Melissa Butts (husband John) of San Antonio; grandchildren, Bryan Jones (Jamie), Lafonda Miller (Jeremy), Stephanie Estes, Eric Butts and Kyle Butts; step grandson, Jerod Moore; Six great-grandchildren, Bradley Jones, Tabatha Jones, Chase Jones, Cassius Miller, Angeline Chavez, Evan Bailey Estes; step great-grandchildren and a host of extended relatives and friends.
Fight to Survive
Not without a cost, though.
Both women are survivors of breast cancer, a life threatening disease that permanently transformed their outlooks on life.
“Surviving breast cancer makes you appreciate life a whole lot more,” Archuleta said. “It makes you realize how mortal you really are, and you realize what’s really important in your life.”
It all started with suspicious lumps in their breasts.
“When I noticed a lump in my breast, I didn’t think too much of it and scheduled a mammogram,” Archuleta said. “Then I noticed it was growing, and I felt like something was wrong.”
Archuleta and Schaefer both were diagnosed with breast cancer in their mid-fifties.
“When I was diagnosed, I thought ‘I don’t want to die’,” Schaefer said. “Then I instantly thought ‘what can we do to stop it’?”
The answer to her question? Chemotherapy.
“After receiving a treatment, I would feel like I had the flu for weeks on end,” Schaefer said. “Just when I would start to feel better, they would give me another treatment. I had never really been sick before that, so it was a rude awakening.”
Archuleta received two different kinds of chemotherapy.
“I got really sick in between treatments because chemotherapy uses poison to kill the bad stuff as well as the good stuff,” she said. “I developed Neutropenic fever and had to stay in the hospital for days. But I knew if they didn’t kill the bad stuff, it was going to kill me.”
Schaefer said the side effects of the treatments were devastating.
“When I lost my hair, I was completely shattered because it was a huge part of me and then it was gone,” she said. “I started to rationalize with myself and wonder if my hair made me who I was. I also got infections under my nails, and lost three fingernails and two toenails.”
Unfortunately, a mere wig could not completely solve the women’s hair loss problem.
“I lost all of my hair, including my eyebrows, eyelashes, arm hair, everything,” Archuleta said. “There was no hair anywhere on my body. I didn’t have to shave my legs for six months, which was nice actually.”
Even though these side effects were drastic, both women still maintained optimistic attitudes.
“There are actually advantages to being bald,” Schaefer said. “It takes you less time to get ready when you don’t have do your hair or put on mascara. Just slap a hat on your head and do your thing.”
Archuleta even found a way to make her great nephew, Nathan, accept her bald condition.
“When I started losing my hair, we had a hair shaving party,” she said. “Nathan and I played games with wigs and scarves so that he would never be afraid of me. It worked.”
But as much as they tried to laugh things off, difficult times hit the women as well.
“The hardest part was having to wait,” Archuleta said. “Wait for them to find out what kind of treatment, when to start treatment, and most importantly, your results. That was very frustrating to me.”
Schaefer felt confusion as to why she developed the breast cancer.
“I was a person who watched my weight, exercised regularly and I never smoked,” she said. “I tried to eat healthy and I still came up with cancer. Cancer doesn’t care about color, age or economic situation. It can get anyone.”
Which is the exact reason why having a yearly mammogram is so essential for all women.
“One year there was nothing wrong with me, and in 12 months the cancer had already formed and was spreading,” Schaefer said. “If I hadn’t of gotten my mammogram, it would’ve spread to other places. I believe it saved my life.”
Longtime Clarendon College Board of Regents member Doug Lowe, who lost his wife in 2008 to ovarian cancer, knows the severity of cancer and encourages women to receive their yearly exams.
“Some people don’t want to know if they have cancer, but they should,” Lowe said. “They shouldn’t be afraid. Early diagnosis is the key. With any kind of cancer, the earlier you get it diagnosed, the easier it will be to get treated.”
Thankfully for Archuleta and Schaefer, their cancers were caught, treated, and eliminated. Both believe that surviving breast cancer has made them stronger.
“If you live through the possibility of dying, it makes you stronger,” Schaefer said. “You learn to not take life for granted, and the loved ones around you become even more precious. You know that you can either sit there and cry about it, or laugh through it. And you make it, one day at a time.”
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Please join the Clarendon High School Student Council in supporting the Breast Cancer Awareness Foundation by wearing a “Think Pink” T-shirts on Pink Out Day, which is October 12.
The money from each “Think Pink” shirt sold by student council members will be donated to the Breast Cancer Awareness Foundation.
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