Ector Co. TX - Obituaries from the Odessa American Online Submitted by Sonny Hall shall@balista.com 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. Permian Basin Obituaries Copyright © 1999-2002 Odessa American. All rights reserved =========================================================================== Thursday, December 12, 2002 Permian Basin Obituaries Bobby Esparza ODESSA - Bobby Esparza, a son, a father, a brother, a friend, someone who you could talk to, a one in a million kind of guy. You were full of life to people who loved being around you. You had a gift of making people happy and were able to cheer up anyone in their darkest hour. He was a great dad who brought excitement into my life. He helped people when they needed it. He was a truthful and honest person. I know he is in a better place. I will never forget my dad or anything else that we did when we were together. I love you with all my heart. Dominica. He passed away Monday, Dec. 9, 2002, at his residence. He was born June 21, 1964. Services are scheduled for 10 a.m. Friday, Dec. 13, 2002, at Hubbard-Kelly Funeral Home. We know that you are with Jesus Christ and that you are in a better place. One day, we will be with you glorifying God together. For now, your memories are with us. He is survived by his parents, Robert Esparza and Carmen Ceballos, both of Odessa; daughter, Dominica Esparza of Odessa; brothers, Rudy Esparza of Dallas, Ernest Esparza of Hawaii and Prajedes Ceballos III of Odessa; sisters, Selina Betancourt, Melinda Esparza, Carmelita Ceballos and Celvia Ceballos, all of Odessa. We would like to thank Mission Odessa, friends and family for all their support, and Nick Hernandez. Services entrusted to Hubbard-Kelly Funeral Home. Juanita ‘Nita’ Johnson ODESSA - Juanita "Nita" Bounds Goss Johnson, 94, died at the Hospice House in Odessa Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2002. She was born July 12, 1908, in Oran to the late Robert Wallace Bounds and Callie Dora Sherwood Bounds. She moved with her family to Stamford in 1909. She graduated from Stamford High School and Texas Women’s University. She did graduate studies at T.W.U., Hardin Simmons and Texas Tech. In 1934, she married Howard H. Goss and they had two children. In 1966, she married Joel H. Johnson. She was preceded in death by her husband, Joel; daughter, Joan Bowers; grandson, Paul Bowers; and brothers, Robert Harry Bounds of Stamford and R.W. Bounds of California. Mrs. Johnson was a member of the First United Methodist Church in Odessa where she was an active member in U.M.W., Sunday School, Perky Peers and the Spice of Life Seniors group. She was a retired home economics teacher and a sponsor of Future Homemakers of America. She also belonged to the Texas Retired Teachers Association and the Northside Senior Center. She was a sponsor of the Odessa Newcomers Club, serving as City Hostess from 1966 to 1979. She is survived by her son, Robert H. Goss of Dallas; grandson, Steven Goss; granddaughters, Lisa Trutna and Susan Pierpont; three great-grandsons; sister, Virginia Loop of Stamford; several nieces and nephews and numerous friends. Graveside services conducted by John Erwin, Pastor of St. John’s United Methodist Church, will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 14, 2002, at the Highland Memorial Cemetery in Stamford. Services are entrusted to Hubbard-Kelly Funeral Home. Arnulfo Juarez ODESSA - Arnulfo Juarez, 51, of Odessa passed away Sunday, Dec. 8, 2002, in Ojinaga, Mexico. He was born April 13, 1951, in Cuchillo Parado, Chihuahua, Mexico, to Santos Juarez. He was married to Luz Maria Paredes. He was self employed and was Catholic. He is preceded in death by his son, Arnulfo Juarez Jr. and sister, Alma Nieto. He is survived by his wife, Luz Maria Paredes Juarez of Odessa; sons, Jamie Juarez and wife Olivia of Odessa, Jason Perez , Anthony Juarez, Adrian Juarez and Andres Juarez, all of Odessa; daughters Frances Rodriguez and husband Jesse, Alma Juarez and Angela Juarez, all of Odessa; parents Felipe Nieto, mother, Santos J. Ortiz and step-father, Nicolas Ortiz, all of Odessa; brothers, Ysidro Juarez, Pablo Ortiz, Nicky Ortiz, Pedro Ortiz, all of Odessa, Rene Nieto and Roberto Nieto, both of Freeport, and Cucu Nieto of Houston; sisters, Maria Ortiz, Rosa Renteria, Lydia Payen, all of Odessa and Bertha Nieto of La Paz, Mexico; grandchildren, A.J. Juarez III, Sage Juarez, Isaiah Juarez, Jordan Juarez, Alexis Juarez, Jesalyn Rodriguez and Jaden Perez, all of Odessa. Pallbearers will be Gabriel Rodriguez, Jesse Granado, Saul Paredes, YsidroJuarez, Manuel Lujan, Carlos Ruiz, Erasmo Paredes and Beto Rodriguez. Rosary was recited at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2002, at Odessa Funeral Home. Services will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 12, 2002, at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church with the Rev. Gilbert Rodriguez officiating. Burial will follow at Rose Hill Cemetery. Services by Odessa Funeral Home. John A. Kerr Sr. HOBBS, N.M. - John A. Kerr Sr., a long-time homicide investigator for the Anaheim, Calif., Police Department, and formerly a short-term resident of Odessa, died of cancer Sunday at a family home in Hobbs, N.M. He was 76. Kerr, who won numerous department commendations and led or participated in investigations in some of the biggest criminal cases in Orange County, Calif., history, retired from the police force as the head of internal affairs after 26 years of service. He was a homicide investigator for nearly 18 years. He was among the first full-time detectives appointed to Anaheim’s newly formed detective bureau in 1956. Kerr was credited with solving the "Disneyland murder case" in the 1960s by tracking a bottle of Teachers Scotch left in the Disneyland Hotel room where a man was killed to two sailors noted to be drinkers of Teachers Scotch. He led an investigation of the shotgun murder of the owner of the popular South Seas night club in Anaheim and the maiming of the man’s wife, both of whom had been scheduled to testify against a crime syndicate boss in the robbery of the night club. The investigation resulted in the arrest and conviction of three crime syndicate figures who later received death sentences. The case figured prominently in California’s debate on the death penalty in the 1970s, and the mobsters’ death sentences were eventually commuted by Gov. Jerry Brown. Kerr was involved in one of the biggest shootouts and manhunts in Orange County’s history in January 1959. In a stakeout set to catch two suspects in an armed robbery of an Anaheim liquor store, Kerr was stationed in a back bedroom at the home of the girlfriend of one of suspects. Another officer hid in the kitchen of the woman’s home armed with a Thompson submachinegun. The officers planned for the woman, who was cooperating with police, to tell her boyfriend she needed to get a sweater from the back bedroom so she could be out of harm’s way and Kerr and his partner could trap the suspect in the living room. But the suspect, Charles Averill, followed the woman down the hallway. When Kerr emerged from the bedroom to spring the trap, Averill drew a pistol and fired. Kerr shoved the woman to safety in another bedroom and came up firing, hitting the suspect in the abdomen. Severely wounded, Averill turned and fled into the living room where he encountered the officer with the machine gun, but the gun jammed. Averill’s cohort outside fired a rifle shot through the living room window, hitting the officer in the groin. The two suspects fled into the neighboring residential area amid a gunbattle with 16 police officers. They were later caught, tried and imprisoned. In another case Kerr investigated in the 1970s, a man was convicted of trying to kill his wife by putting a pit viper snake into the air conditioning system of their home. The woman awoke to find the snake in her bed, but she wasn’t bitten. The case helped bring about a ban in California on the import of poisonious snakes. After retiring from the force in 1981, he established Kerr & Associates, a consulting firm that provided security and investigative services to United Western Medical Center, a chain of hospitals and nursing homes with operations in Southern California and Fort Worth, Texas. Together with his partner Frank Oxandeboure, a former chief investigator for the Orange County District Attorney’s office, Kerr operated the consulting business until 1988. He retired from the consulting business in 1988 and moved to Aztec, N.M., to live near his twin brother, Ernie, who died in 1994. He is also preceded in death by his parents, Ernest and Blanche Kerr, and his sister, Frances Reddy, all formerly of Denver, Colo. After suffering a mild stroke on Aug. 9, Kerr moved in with his son, John A. Kerr Jr., in Odessa. Medical tests performed after the stroke revealed he had contracted cancer. He remained in Odessa with his son until mid-November, when he moved to Hobbs. He is survived by his son, John, of Odessa, his daughter-in-law Mary of Hobbs, and John’s mother, Jean, of Hobbs. No services will be held. Kerr’s ashes are to be scattered in the mountains near Durango, Colo. Memorials may be sent to Vista Care hospice of Hobbs, N.M. Copyright © 1999-2003 Odessa American. All rights reserved.