Obituaries for April 1, 2006

Eula Best Bilberry

Services:

10 a.m. today at Wheeler Mortuary Chapel

Eula Best Bilberry, 95, of Portales died Thursday, March 30, 2006, at Farwell Convalescent Center.

She was born April 27, 1910, in Whitesboro, Texas, to Pearl and William Reavis.

She married Grady Best on Dec. 20, 1925. They moved to a ranch north of Elida in 1942. They ranched for many years until he died in 1974.

She married Robert Bilberry on June 4, 1976. They lived in Floyd until he died in 1986, when she moved to Portales.

Family member said was sweet-natured family person who enjoyed crocheting, embroidery, quilting, canning and baking.

Family members said she won several blue ribbons for her needlework at the county fair. They said she also enjoyed collecting arrow heads.

She was a member of the Floyd Baptist Church, the Daughters of the American Revolution and a former member of the Elida Homemaker’s Club.

She and her first husband, Grady, had donated an area of land for development of the Floyd Cemetery, where she will be laid to rest at his side.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her brother, Carl Reavis; a daughter, Thelma Parker, who died in 1999; and her two husbands.

She is survived by a son, Wendell Best (and wife, Joy) of Elida; two daughters, Evelyn Kerby (Ed) of Portales and Billie Cooper of Portales; 13 grandchildren; eight great-grandchildren; 10 great great-grandchildren; a sister, Mildred Vandivere of O’Donnell, Texas; a son-in-law, Alva J. Parker of Farmington; and numerous nieces and nephews.

G.B. Hisel and San Duncan will officiate.

Burial is at Floyd Cemetery.

Alan Parker, Kevin Kerby, Monte, Kent and Kyle Best, Steve, Lynn and Britt Cooper will serve as pallbearers.

Honorary pallbearers will be Stanley, Bud and Joe Bilberry, Tommy Goff, Dennis Luce, Nelson Rector and Joe Bob Standifer.

Arrangements are by Wheeler Mortuary of Portales.

Gertrude Clark, 97, of Spiro, Okla., died Friday, March 31, 2006, in Fort Smith, Ark. She was born Oct. 25, 1908, in Cowlington, Okla., to Melvin Cicero and Barbara Allen Cole Neal.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Tony Clark.

She is survived by a daughter, Linda Scott of Poteau, Okla.; three sons, Neal Clark (and wife, Pat) and Odell Clark (Jo Ella), all of Spiro, and Royce Clark (Fern) of Portales; a brother, Lenuel Neal of Daleville, Va.; a sister, Betty Anderson of Midwest City, Okla.; several nieces and nephews; 10 grandchildren; 13 great-grandchildren; and one great great-grandchild.

Burial will be at Milton Cemetery, Bokoshe, Okla.

Visitation will be from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. (CDT) Sunday at Dowden Funeral Home, Heavener, Okla.

Arrangements are by Dowden Funeral Home, Heavener, Okla.