This Week

Mary Joan Wood was born on January 17, 1938, in Hardeman County, Texas to George and Elizabeth Myers. Shortly after her birth, her family moved to Lockney, and that is where she grew up and graduated high school in 1956.

Mary went to college at West Texas State University in Canyon where she excelled in bowling and led the team to many championships including the first ever women’s bowling traveling trophy. During her time at West Texas State, she was introduced to the love of her life, Bobby Wood, a young farmer from Groom, Texas. It was love at first sight and just four months later that farmer asked Mary for her hand in marriage. They were married on September 29, 1961 in Bushland, Texas.

Mary was no stranger to hard work, as she was Bobby’s right hand woman on the farm and ranch in Groom. There they raised registered Hereford cattle and farmed wheat, corn, and milo. Mary and Bobby traveled the country showing their cattle and gaining many life-long friends along the way. In 1963, the couple welcomed their daughter Kellye into the world, and four years later their son Kevin completed the family of four. Mary held many different clerical positions including working at banks, the Groom hospital, Groom ISD, and eventually retiring from the Pantex plant in Amarillo. Mary was a talented seamstress and enjoyed sewing beautiful garments for her daughter and granddaughters that even included matching dresses for their baby dolls. She enjoyed teaching her grandchildren how to sew for the 4-H fashion shows and was an expert at patching Bobby’s work overalls. Mary was also a very talented painter and her many art pieces are cherished by her family.

Mary also had a very competitive nature and could often be found sitting in the bleachers yelling for the players and at the referees when they missed a call. She was also quite a card shark. She enjoyed playing all types of card games with friends and family, where no one was safe from her competitiveness.

The greatest legacy that Mary leaves is her love for Jesus Christ and her love for others. Mary gave her life to Jesus at an early age and served Him faithfully until her final breath on Earth. She served in countless Sunday school classes, Vacation Bible Schools, preparing meals for people, and never hesitated to open her home to those in need. We may never know the number of lives that were changed due to her servant’s heart. Mary and Bobby also shared a deep love of Southern Gospel music, and they attended numerous concerts and revivals with family and friends.

Mary entered her Heavenly Home on October 10, 2024; surrounded by family and friends at Hospice of East Texas in Tyler, Texas.

Those left to cherish her memories are her husband of 63 years, Bobby Wood; daughter, Kellye Jackson (Alan); son, Kevin Wood (Jennifer); and her sister, Sandra Hill. Endeared as “Nanny” to many more are four grandchildren: Kaci Bailey (Mitchel), Kolton Wood (Rebekah), Kyndal Dixon (Wade), and Kaleb Wood; and seven great-grandchildren: Micah, Karter, Andy, and Jeffrey Bailey; Knox Wood; Hank and Annie Dixon; along with a host of nieces, nephews, cousins, and countless friends.
Mary was preceded in death by her parents, George and Elizabeth Myers, and her
grandparents.

The family wishes to thank Hospice of East Texas, Home Care, and Home Place for the wonderful care they gave so graciously to Mary. There are numerous others we want to express our sincere gratitude to including her care-givers; Wanda Johnson, and dear long-time family friend Mike Watson.

Celebration of Life services were held on Sunday, October 13, 2024, at Landmark Baptist Church in Tyler, Texas. A similar service will be held at Calvary Baptist Church in Clarendon on Saturday, October 19, 2024, at 11:00 a.m.

Robert Adolph Boehm, in accordance with his lifelong dedication to his own personal brand of decorum, muttered his last unintelligible and likely unnecessary curse on October 6, 2024, shortly before tripping backward over “some stupid mother****ing thing” and hitting his head on the floor.

Robert was born in Winters, TX, to the late Walter Boehm and Betty Smith on May 6, 1950, after which God immediately and thankfully broke the mold and attempted to cover up the evidence. Raised Catholic, Robert managed to get his wife Dianne pregnant (three times) fast enough to just barely miss getting drafted into the Vietnam War by fathering Michelle, John, and Charlotte between 1967 and 1972. Much later, with Robert possibly concerned about the brewing conflict in Grenada, Charles was born in 1983.

This lack of military service was probably for the best, as when taking up shooting as a hobby in his later years, he managed to blow not one, but two holes in the dash of his own car on two separate occasions, which unfortunately did not even startle, let alone surprise, his dear wife Dianne, who was much accustomed to such happenings in his presence and may have actually been safer in the jungles of Vietnam the entire time.

While the world was in conflict elsewhere, Robert made due by learning to roof, maintain traffic signs with the City of Amarillo, and eventually becoming a semi-professional truck driver—not to be confused with a professional semi-truck driver.

With peace on the horizon, Robert’s attention somewhat counterintuitively drifted to weapons of war, spanning the historical and geographical spectrum from the atlatl of 19,000 BC France, to the sjambok of 1830s Africa, to the Mosin-Nagant M1891 of WWII-era Soviet Union. So many examples of these mainstream hobbyist items litter his small Clarendon, Texas, apartment that one of them may very well have been the item referenced in his aforementioned eloquent final epitaph.

A man of many interests, Robert was not to be entranced by historical weapons alone, but also had a penchant for fashion, frequently seen about town wearing the latest trend in homemade leather moccasins, a wide collection of unconventional hats, and boldly mismatched shirts and pants.

Robert also kept a wide selection of harmonicas on hand—not to play personally, but to prompt his beloved dogs to howl continuously at odd hours of the night to entertain his many neighbors, and occasionally to give to his many, many, many grandchildren and great-grandchildren to play loudly during long road trips with their parents.

Earlier this year, in February, God finally showed mercy upon Dianne, getting her the hell out of there for some well-earned peace and quiet. Without Dianne to gleefully entertain, Robert shifted his creative focus to the entertainment of you, the fine townspeople of Clarendon, Texas. Over the last eight months, if you have not met Robert or seen his road show yet, you probably would have soon.

We have all done our best to enjoy/weather Robert’s antics up to this point, but he is God’s problem now.

Robert’s farewell tour will be held Monday, October 14th, at 10 a.m. at Memorial Park Funeral Home, 6969 E Interstate 40 Hwy, Amarillo, TX 79118. The family encourages you to dust off whatever outdated or inappropriate combination of clothing you have available to attend. A tip jar will be available in the front; flowers are also acceptable.

Sara Francis Spalding Carter, 80, passed away on September 29, 2024, in Plainview. A memorial graveside service will be held in Rowe Cemetery in Hedley on Friday, October 11, 2024, at 2:00 p.m.

Cremation arrangements are under the care of Kornerstone Funeral Directors of Plainview.

Sara was born on September 27, 1944, in Clarendon to Alfred B. and Eloise (Leach) Spalding. She grew up in Hedley, Texas where she graduated from High School in 1962. She married Gary Carter on May 25, 1977, in Clayton, New Mexico. She worked for Clayton Cattle Feeders as a bookkeeper for 30 years before retiring. She enjoyed following her children and grandchildren to their activities including sporting events and livestock showing. She also enjoyed playing card games with her family and loved planning our yearly ski trips to Red River and Angel Fire. She loved spending time with her family.

She lived for making sure others were taken care of! She was a long-time member of the Clayton Methodist Church and she was also a member of P.E.O.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Gary Carter; parents, Alfred and Eloise Spalding; sister, Martha Lowe; and her mother-in-law, Martha Jean Carter.

She is survived by her son, Darrell Messer and wife Lori of Gruver; two daughters, Deana Crump of Clarendon, Lisa Vaughn and husband Travis of Petersburg; sister, Kathleen Pixley of Grove, OK; seven grandchildren, Matt Messer, Miles Messer, Mike Crump, Chris Crump, Ky Vaughn, Kenlee Vaughn, Kale Vaughn; and fourteen great-grandchildren.

The family suggests memorials to the charity of your choice in memory of Sara Carter.