Hunt Co., TX - Obits: W. T. Connatser ***************************************************** This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb by: Sarah Swindell USGenWeb Archives. Copyright. All rights reserved http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm ***************************************************** W. T. Connatser Newton—Funeral services for W. T. Connatser, 88, of Newton, were held on Thursday, October 2, 2003, at Smith Funeral Home in Newton with Russell Polson officiating. Connatser passed away Monday, September 29, 2003, at Christus Jasper Memorial Hospital after a brief illness. Burial was in the Newton City Cemetery. Connatser was born on September 1, 1915, in Celeste to Walter and Lula Spicer Connatser. He was a graduate of Celeste High School, Class of 1933. He was married to Lona Mae Johnson on January 26, 1935, in Celeste. He retired from the Telephone Company after thirty-two years of service. He was a member of the First Baptist Church of Newton for sixty years and a fifty-year member of the Rainbow Lodge #735 in Newton. He was a past member of the Deep East Texas Development Association, past president of the Newton Lions Club, a charter member and chief of the Newton Volunteer Fire Department, and a past member of the Newton ISD School Board. He was a resident of Newton for the past sixty years. His survivors include his wife of sixty-eight years, Lona Mae Johnson Connatser of Newton; one daughter and son-in-law, Gail Gilbert and Jim Gilbert of Woodstock, Virginia; and one grandson, Christopher Todd Gilbert of Woodstock, Virginia. He was preceded in death by his parents; brothers, Ralph Connatser, Roscoe Connatser, and K. T. Connatser; and sister, Adelaide Connatser Tipps. Pallbearers were Robert Earl Reeves, W. D. Treadway, Burton Humphreys, Jim Pat Stark, Charles Dwain Stone, and Christopher Todd Gilbert. (October 16, 2003, The Leonard Graphic)