OBITUARY: Frances Bloodworth, 8 July 2003 - Coke County, TX Contributed by Mary Love Berryman 17 July 2003 Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm *********************************************************************** All documents placed in the USGenWeb Archives remain the property of the contributors, who retain publication rights in accordance with US Copyright Laws and Regulations. In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, these documents may be used by anyone for their personal research. They may be used by non-commercial entities so long as all notices and submitter information is included. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit. Any other use, including copying files to other sites, requires permission from the contributors PRIOR to uploading to the other sites. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. *********************************************************************** FRANCES BRANCH BLOODWORTH Shaffer Funeral Home ROBERT LEE, Frances Bloodworth died in San Angelo on Tuesday, July 8, 2003. She was born in Houston to George and Augusta Branch on Jan. 19, 1914. Her early life was spent in Teague and Bryan, but she graduated from high school in Miami, Fla. After receiving a degree in journalism from the University of Texas, she worked for the Extension Service both in College Station and in Baton Rouge, La. She married Allen Bloodworth on Aug. 28, 1938; they met while Allen was a student at Texas A&M. After a brief career in sales, Allen became an agriculture teacher and the couple lived in Houston, Lott, Lexington, Corsicana and eventually Mason. After five years in Mason, Allen joined the Foreign Service as an agricultural advisor. Frances and their two children joined him in Burma, where the youngest child was born. Frances loved living overseas and described every day as an adventure. After serving in Burma and Thailand, Allen was posted to Stillwater, Okla., for graduate studies. Frances went back to school after a 30-year absence and earned her master’s degree in education. They then went to West Africa, serving for two years in Liberia and five years in Ghana. Their final overseas destination was Nepal, where they lived for five years until Allen’s retirement in 1975 to Mason, where Frances dusted off her journalism degree and worked for the local paper (both her mother and grandmother were journalists). Several years later, the couple moved to a cattle ranch in Silver, Texas, where Frances lived until 2000 when failing health led to her move to the Robert Lee Care Center. “If I can’t be home,” she said on the last day of her life, “that’s where I want to be.” Allen visited almost every day, bringing flowers, homegrown vegetables and cakes. Frances was a beloved wife, mother, sister, aunt, grandmother and friend. She never lost her keen and inquiring mind or her lively interest in genealogy, photography, bible study and reading. Working from overseas, in an era before the Internet, she researched and wrote exhaustive family histories of the Bloodworth, Branch, Buchanan and other family lines. She was an expert photographer who developed her own images, an accomplished cook who specialized in Indian cuisine and an extraordinary chronicler of daily life who started keeping a daily journal at the age of 14 and never stopped. Even though she became deaf and legally blind, she continued to write in her diary, work on her husband’s tax return and listen to books on tape. Her body wore out, but her mind never did. She is survived by her husband, Allen; son, Bill; and daughters, Barbara Gilbreath and Mary Bloodworth; sister, Gussie Scruggs; brother, Dr. George Branch and his wife, Dottie; and grandchildren, John Gilbreath and Gina Bloodworth. Her grandson, Robert Bloodworth, died in 1997. She also was preceded in death by her sister, Nita Knight, but remained extremely close to Cynthia Knight Hamrick, Nita’s daughter, and to her cousin, Lavone Wommack. She leaves behind a large and loving family of Bloodworth in-laws including Clayton and Pansy Bloodworth, Ernest and Geneva Bloodworth, Jewell and J.C. Wallace, Raymond Bloodworth and numerous and beloved other nieces and nephews. Her pallbearers will include Bill Allen of Robert Lee and nephews, Lonnie Bloodworth, Buddy Wallace, Jackie Wallace, Charles Bloodworth and Carl Bloodworth. She leaves many loving friends behind, including Peggy Scarborough of San Angelo and Bill Cox of Robert Lee. Funeral service will be at 3 p.m. Sunday, July 13, at the First Baptist Church of Robert Lee. Burial will follow in McKenzieville Cemetery. Frances’s family wants to extend special thanks to Roger Alexander and the staff of Robert Lee Care Center. “Fear no more the heat o’ the sun, Nor the furious winter’s rages; Thou thy worldly task hast done, Home art gone, and ta’en thy wages.” — William Shakespeare. Permission granted by the San Angelo Standard-Times for publication in the Coke County TXGenWeb Archives.