Obituary:  JOSEPHINE ROREX (Mrs. Ulmer S.) BIRD, December 28, 2010

Contributed by Brenda Scott Hines
May 2011
***********************************************************************
The Observer/Enterprise, Coke County, TX - Dec 2010

BIRD

JOSEPHINE ROREX (Mrs. Ulmer S.) BIRD passed away December 28, 2010. 
Graveside services will be held at 3:00pm. on Friday, December 31, 2010 
at the Sanco Cemetery, Sanco, Texas. A memorial service will be held at 
11:00am. on Monday, January 3, 2011 at the First United Methodist Church, 
Rockport, Texas.

She was born March  14, 1909 to Joe and Lydia Lill Rorex, the first of 
eight children, born and reared in Panhandle, Texas. Her Lill and Rorex 
grandparents pioneered in Panhandle in the early 1890s. She graduated 
from Panhandle High School, attended Hardin Simmons University and McMurry 
College in Abilene while her husband was serving as Army Chaplain in 
Europe, 1944-1946.

Ulmer Bird was appointed pastor of the Methodist Church in Panhandle in 
1926 when Josephine was a Junior in High School. They were married 
October 18, 1928 at the home of her parents.

They moved to Sanco,Texas in 1947. His Ulmer and Bird grandparents pioneered 
in what became Sanco in the late 1880s. She served as Postmaster there from 
1954 until 1971 when she retired and the post office was closed. She was 
Secretary-Treasurer of the Sanco Village Association and the Sanco 
Evangelical Methodist Church, 1954-1989. The Association has sponsored the 
Sanco Homecoming since 1954, which is held the second Sunday in June, 
annually. She is author of Our Sanco People, published in 2005, and The Story 
of the Panhandle Bank, published in 1992. She was an active member of the 
Lamar Womans Club and the National Society of the Daughters of the American 
Revolution.

Ulmer Bird, teacher, pastor, editor, rancher and poet, passed away January 30, 
1988. His body rests in Sanco Cemetery. Josephine was also predeceased by her 
parents, two brothers Edward and Frank Rorex, and one sister Louise Rorex Holt. 
Survivors are two brothers, Robert Rorex of Lubbock and Eugene Rorex of 
Rockport, Texas; two sisters Alice Waidhofer of Stockton, California, and 
Evelyn Atkinson of Rockport, Texas; and nephews and nieces. Expressions of 
sympathy may be made by donation to the First United Methodist Church of 
Rockport, Texas, 801 E. Main, Rockport,  Texas 78382.
 
Arrangements Entrusted to:
Charlie Marshall Funeral Homes & Crematory, Inc.
814 E. Main
Rockport, Texas 78382
		
                  ***************************
Permission granted by The Observer/Enterprise for publication
in the Coke County TXGenWeb and/or the Coke County Archives of the USGenWeb.
Copyright.  All rights reserved.