Ector Co. TX - Obits from the Odessa American Online 4 April 2000 Submitted by Charlene Beatty Beauchamp cbodessa@classicnet.net Thanks to the Odessa American Online http://www.oaoa.com/ ************************************************************************ USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net/ *********************************************************************** OA Online Obituaries. April 04, 2000 Permian Basin Obituaries _________________________________________________________________ ODESSA — Cecil Owen Pollet, 58, died Saturday, April 1, 2000, at Seabury Nursing Home. He was born to Cecil and Myrtle Pollet, Feb. 25, 1942, in Coody’s Bluff, Okla. He repaired forklifts, and was a member of the VFW Post 4372, American Legion Post 430, Disabled American Vets, and was a Commander of Post 197. Survivors include his brother, Jim Pollet and wife, Charlene, of Andrews; sister, Helen Dravis and husband, Bob, of Tucumcari, N.M.; and special friend, Mae Randolph of Odessa. His wife, Shirley Wilson Pollet, and parents preceded him in death. Graveside services will be at 2 p.m. Tuesday, April 4, 2000, at Dumas Cemetery in Dumas with the Rev. Jerry Clark, of Bible Baptist Church, officiating. Services are under the care of Sunset Memorial Funeral Home. _________________________________________________________________ ODESSA — John Raymon Cupp was born Nov. 5, 1940, in Jigger, La., to Roy Lee and Erta Marie Cupp. He passed away April 2, 2000, at Medical Center Hospital. Graveside services are scheduled for 1 p.m. Tuesday at Sunset Memorial Gardens with Rev. John Van Hoose officiating. Services are under the care of Sunset Memorial Funeral Home. Raymon married Patricia Hankins Oct. 2, 1959, in Mexico. They came to Odessa in 1963. He had worked in the oilfield from the age of 15 years. He was Pentecostal. He was preceded in death by his son, Jimmy Ray Cupp. Survivors include his wife, Patricia Cupp of Odessa; son, Vernon and wife, Carolyn Cupp, of Cleburne; daughters, Terri and husband, Terry Presley, of Odessa and Debra and husband, Kevin Fryman, also of Odessa and Michelle of Midland; mother, Marie Cupp of Kilgore; brother, Marvin Cupp of Kilgore; sisters, Glenna Jordan of Jigger, La., Roberta Housden of Kilgore and Velda Hudson of Carlsbad, N.M.; grandchildren, Eric and Jenifer Webb, Kasi and Kortney Presley, Justin Ray Cupp and Jeremy Heifner. Raymon was a kind, sincere, generous and devoted man whose smiling face brought joy to those he touched. His lively sense of humor and friendly smile will be missed by all of his family and many, many friends. _________________________________________________________________ ODESSA — Gladys Mildred Dillard, 77, of Odessa passed away Sunday, April 2, 2000, in a local hospital. Mildred was born Feb. 17, 1923, in Smith County, Tenn. She married Carl C. Dillard Jan. 6, 1940, in Smithville, Tenn. She has lived in Odessa since 1958 and had worked at G.C. Murphy’s for five years and Dunlaps for 10 years. She was a longtime member of Westover Baptist Church and had worked in the nursery for more than 25 years. She was preceded in death by three grandsons. She is survived by her husband of 60 years, Carl C. Dillard of Odessa; daughters, Peggy Jones and her husband, Charles, of Lebanon, Tenn., Paula Proffitt and her husband, Robert, of Carthage, Tenn., Patricia Clevenger and her husband, Donald, of Odessa and Pamela Schlauch of Covington, Tenn.; brother, Wayne Blackburn of Lebanon, Tenn.; sisters, Etta Frances Occuhzzo and Sue Woods, both of Winchester, Tenn.; 11 grandchildren; and 16 great-grandchildren. Funeral services are scheduled for 2 p.m. Tuesday, April 4, 2000, in the Hubbard-Kelly Funeral Home Chapel with Rev. Weeks Dubose officiating. Graveside services are scheduled for 1 p.m. Friday, April 7, 2000, in Gordonsville, Tenn. Services entrusted to Hubbard-Kelly Funeral Home. _________________________________________________________________ Billy C. Preston ODESSA — Billy C. Preston, 70, of Houston died Saturday, April 1, 2000, at Heartland Health Care in Houston. Graveside services will be held at 2 p.m. today at Sunset Memorial Gardens with the Rev. Melvin Warren officiating. He was born in Stamford and was a retired principal. Survivors include his daughter, Diann Chapman of Houston; and brothers, W.C. Preston of Stamford and Wayne Preston of Anson. Services entrusted to Hubbard-Kelly Funeral Home. _________________________________________________________________ Robert Davis Browning ODESSA — Robert Davis Browning was born June 6, 1913, in Waco, to Mary Paddleford Browning and Roy Browning. Mr. Browning graduated from Coleman High school in Coleman in 1931 and worked in the family business, the Nehi Bottling Plant. He married Ellen Rose Davis of Dayton, who preceded him in death in 1989. At the start of World War II he joined the Army and was trained as a cryptographer, then was stationed the Karachi, India. Bob and Rose had three children, Robert Charles Browning who preceded them in death in 1948, Mary Elizabeth Browning Smith of Bryan and Richard Davis "Buz" Browning of Odessa. He owned and operated service stations in Coleman from the late 1940s until 1964, when he sold the stations and went to work for Life Insurance Company of the Southwest. Halliburton Corporation purchased the insurance company, and he was transferred to Dallas in 1967 to be the company’s purchasing manager. In 1988, when he was 75, he retired from the company and moved to Bryan. Bob was an avid fan of baseball and coached Little League and Pony League for many years in Coleman. In 1961, he coached the Coleman Little League all-star team, which was not eliminated until the State Championship Tournament. Golf was his main hobby for many years, however later in life he took up needlepoint and became a master of the art. Many of his friends and family still have cherished pieces of his work. Mr. Browning was a member of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Coleman, then St. Monica’s Catholic Church in Dallas and finally St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Bryan. Survivors include his sister, Jo Henning and her husband, E.W. "Sonny" of Glen Cove; daughter, Mary Elizabeth "Betty" Smith and husband, Preston; son, Richard D. Browning and wife, Diana; grandchildren, Quint and Mindy Foster, Chris and Amy Foster and Marc Foster, Lauren and Davis Browning, Jill and Eric Mott, Katy and John Olsta and Brad Smith; and great-grandchildren, Logan and Kyle Fos-ter, Ford Foster and Anna Olsta. He is also survived by his cousin and friend Lucille Paddleford Payne of Dallas and many others in his extended family. A private memorial service is being heId at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Bryan. The family asks that no flowers be sent but asks that donations be made in his memory to St. John’s School in Odessa. _________________________________________________________________ Copyright © 2000 Odessa American. All rights reserved.