Obituary: William Allen Bloodworth, December 31, 2003, Coke County, TX Contributed by Jo Collier 27 January 2004 Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/tx/txfiles.htm *********************************************************************** The Observer/Enterprise, Robert Lee, Coke County, TX - January 9, 2004 BLOODWORTH William Allen Bloodworth died in Robert Lee on New Years Eve, December 31, 2003, after a short but devastating fight with end-stage cancer. His death, surrounded by family, was the final chapter in a long, well-lived, and interesting life that started in Abilene on July 5, 1914. Allen was the first of eight children born to Hardin- Simmons seminarian Horace Lee Bloodworth and Coke County pioneer Mary Walker Bloodworth. Allen's first memory was riding a horse-drawn wagon from Abilene to Silver, watching startled wild turkeys fly up from the brush. His childhood was spent in the Silver area, learning to grow cotton and ranch. He and his brothers and sisters rode horses to a one-room schoolhouse. Allen decided he wanted to keep going to school, which required working his way through high school in Colorado City by delivering milk and living with relatives. After graduation, he leased land to grow cotton and hired out as a cowhand to save money for Texas A&M. Allen was part of the last cattle drive in the area, driving stock over the Water Valley divide to the railhead at Colorado City. He entered Texas A&M the following spring, working several jobs to make ends meet and living in a Project House. Allen graduated in 1937 and continued a determined courtship of Frances Branch, an East Texan who had graduated from the University of Texas several years before. On August 28, 1938, Frances married Allen and traded in her career in the Extension Service for family life. After a brief career as a feed salesman, Allen and a partner opened a feed store just as the second wave of the depression struck. After the birth of the couple's first child in 1940, Allen became a Vocational Agriculture teacher. He soon had two children to support, and Allen taught at successively larger schools until settling in Mason, where he coached a series of successful high school livestock judging teams. After five years in Mason, Allen joined the Foreign Service as an agricultural advisor. He was first posted in Burma, where the youngest child was born. He worked with local farmers in Northern Burma for two years and then moved to Thailand, where he traveled all over the country working with Vocational Agriculture programs in secondary schools. After five years in Thailand, Allen was selected for an exchange program with an Oklahoma State University professor, who came to Thailand and did Allen's job while Allen taught at O.S.U. and attended graduate school. After completing his masters and everything but the doctoral dissertation, he declined an offer to stay and teach at O.S.U. in favor of an assignment to West Africa, where he spent the next seven years. His final assignment was Nepal, where he developed a hardy, disease-resistant strain of corn that flourished at high altitudes. He retired in 1975 to raise registered Hereford cattle on his Silver ranch. He and Frances lived together on the ranch until 2000, when France's failing health led her to move to the Robert Lee Care Center. Allen visited almost every day, bringing flowers, home-grown vegetables, and home-made cakes. Her death earlier this year ended an almost 65-year partnership and romance. Allen continued to live alone at the ranch until a few weeks before his death, raising cattle and cultivating a garden. He was lovingly helped by his nephew Lonnie Bloodworth and nearby brothers and sisters. Allen loved people, loved telling stories, and was a keen amateur historian of the West. His passionate pursuit of his projects - whether it was raising cattle, teaching school, or developing corn - made him one of the lucky people whose work was truly indistinguishable from their play. He was an accomplished agriculturalist and skillful animal breeder. For many years, he was a crack shot and hunter. He successfully hunted tigers and leopards in Asia, and deer and turkey at home. In later years, he confessed that his love for wildlife had dimmed his enthusiasm for shooting animals. He was a home-spun ecologist who planted hundreds of trees on his property and provided cover and food for wildlife. He was also a Mason with dual membership in the Robert Lee and McCullough County lodges. Allen served as the Worshipful Master of the Robert Lee Lodge from 1995 to 1996. He had been a Mason for 57 years when he died. Up to a few weeks before his death, he cooked the beans for the Robert Lee lodge every Tuesday. His is survived by his son Bill, daughters Barbara Gilbreath and Mary Bloodworth, grandchildren Gina Bloodworth and John Gilbreath IV, and great grandson J. C. Gilbreath V; grandson Robert Bloodworth who died in 1997. He leaves behind a large and loving family of Bloodworths including Jewell and J. C. Wallace, Clayton and Pansy Bloodworth, Ernest and Geneva Bloodworth, Raymond Bloodworth and numerous and beloved nieces and nephews. He leaves many loving friends behind. Funeral services were held at the First Baptist Church of Robert Lee at 2:00 pm on Saturday, January 3, 2004. Burial followed in McKenzieville Cemetery. Services were under the direction of Shaffer Funeral Home. Permission granted by The Observer/Enterprise for publication in the Coke County TXGenWeb Archives.