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Orba Lee Malone passes
Orba Lee Malone, an El Paso attorney and civic leader who was instrumental in integrating Baylor University in the 1960s, passed away on June 27 at age 82.
Malone was born in the Texas panhandle town of Milo in 1920, attended Wayland College in Plainview, and graduated from Baylor School of Law in 1942. In April 1943, he married Peggy Pounds, and shortly afterwards became a first lieutenant in the Air Force, piloting a B-29 on 25 missions to Japan in World War II. After the war, he became Director of the Baptist Student Mission at Mississippi College in Clinton, and shortly after the birth of their first son, the Malones moved to El Paso, where he practiced law from 1947 to 1994, specializing in family law and adoptions.
While Malone believed that his calling in life was to minister to people in need through his legal practice, he also believed in giving something back to the city that had provided so much to him and his family. For twelve years he served on the board of trustees for the El Paso Independent School District and was vice-president from 1970-78. He was selected by Lee Moor himself as founding director of the Lee and Beulah Moor Children’s Home and was vice-president of the board of trustees from 1957 to 2003. Madge Watson, former director of the home, remembers Malone as being extremely committed to the quality of care the home provided. “He was an involved and faithful member,” Watson recalls, “who went the extra length that helped develop that program to one of the top in the nation.”
From 1953-62, Malone served on the Child Welfare Board of El Paso County. Malone also served as past president of the El Paso Bar Association and chaired the Family Law Council of the State Bar of Texas during its revision of the Texas Family Code, expanding many rights of children in Texas. In 1995, Malone received the Outstanding Senior Lawyer award from the El Paso Bar Association.
From 1952-65, Malone served on the board of regents of Baylor University and, at 31, was the youngest member of the board and a leading advocate of racial integration. It was shortly after his tenure that John Hill Westbrook became the first black student/athlete to be admitted to the Southwest Conference.
In addition to his work at Baylor, Malone served fourteen years as trustee of Wayland University and received its Distinguished Service Alumnus Award in 2002. He also helped found and incorporate the Rescue Mission of El Paso and was a charter director of the Pastoral Counseling Service.
Malone was a devout Christian and deacon of the First Baptist Church for over 50 years and served multiple terms as Chairman of the Board of Deacons. He taught Sunday school for more than 40 years and, with his wife, taught in the Married Young People’s Department. He chaired the Christian Life Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention in 1965 and the Baptist General Convention of Texas in 1970, and served on the Board of Directors of the Baptist Standard from 1964-76 and the Administrative Committee of the Executive Board of the Baptist General Convention of Texas.
Of his father’s many accomplishments, son Dan says, “Dad’s real strength was his interest in individuals. One of the reasons he became involved in so many organizations and activities was that they allowed him to get to know people on a one-to-one basis. He just loved people.”
Malone was preceded in death by his first wife, Peggy Pounds Malone in 1989; his son Paul in 1980; and brother Robert Clinton, who died in WWII. He is survived by his wife, Lillian McMurry Malone; her daughter, Laura Hoffman; sons John, David, and Dan; daughter Carol Lorence; seven brothers and sisters; 22 nieces and nephews; and 37 grandnieces and -nephews.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Paul Lee Malone Endowed Scholarship Fund, Baylor University, P.O. Box 97026, Waco, TX 76798; or to the First Baptist Church of El Paso Foundation, 805 Montana, El Paso, TX 79902.
From El Paso area - 2003
Community leader Nona Henry Resler dies at 102
A memorial service was held on July 2 at Trinity First United Methodist Church for long-time El Paso resident and civic leader Nona Henry Resler, who passed away June 27. She was 102.
Resler was born in Limestone, Tenn., in 1901. Her family later moved to Colorado to homestead, and it was there she married Dale Resler in 1922. While her husband and his brother ran the Resler Trucking lines, shipping goods between Akron and Denver, Nona ran a bakery. Shortly afterwards, Dale got a job as bus driver and tour guide for Carlsbad Cavern Tours. He later purchased Carlsbad Coaches and a franchise of Grayline Sightseeing, offering tours of El Paso and Juarez. The couple moved to Las Cruces in 1931 and, a year later, to El Paso, where they lived ever since.
Resler’s daughter-in-law, Patricia Corman Resler, says, “They immediately fell in love with El Paso – not only the climate, but the people, whom they thought were very loving and friendly.”
As her husband devoted himself tirelessly to the growth and prosperity of El Paso through his work on the El Paso Planning Commission, the State National Bank, the Texas Mass Transportation Commission and in many other capacities, so too did Nona Resler devote her time and service to her community and her church. She was an active member of Trinity Methodist Church, sponsoring the college and chapel classes, a member of Trinity’s W.S.C.S., the El Paso Women’s Club, the Daughters of the Nile, the Kern Place Gardening Club, and the Women’s Auxiliary of the El Paso Chamber of Commerce. She was also member of the local chapter of P.E.O., dedicated to the educational advancement of women. During World War II, she volunteered her services to young people at the downtown YMCA, organizing dances and other activities.
After her husband’s death, Nona Resler continued Dale’s work with the Boy Scouts (Camp Dale Resler in Cloudcroft is named after him) and was awarded the Silver Beaver Award for her dedication and service. And while Dale was instrumental in acquiring land around Texas Western College for the later expansion of what is now UTEP, Nona Resler continued to support the university through scholarships and other activities.
“She just naturally wanted to be of help and service to her community,” says Patricia Resler. “She was always reaching out to help others.”
Nona Henry Resler is survived by her two children, Wayne Resler, Sr., of El Paso, and Bonnie Karlsrud of Boulder, Colo., numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Donations may be made to Boy Scout Camp Dale Resler or to Trinity First United Methodist Church.
From El Paso area - 2003
Former El Pasoan Marilyn Joyce Pennington dies at 64
Former El Pasoan Marilyn Joyce Pennington, 64, died June 13 in Amarillo. Her husband, John Pennington, bought the Courtesy Chevrolet dealership in 1970, and Mrs. Pennington was officer and director of the business until it was sold in 1986.
Born in 1938 in Amarillo, Pennington (née Swayze) graduated from Amarillo High School in 1957 and attended Wayland Baptist University. In 1964, she married John Pennington in Amarillo, and, after living in Tulsa for a short time, the couple moved to El Paso where they resided for 30 years.
Active in civic affairs, Pennington served on the board of directors of the El Paso Rehabilitation Center and chaired Christmas Street, an annual fund-raiser that auctioned off Christmas trees to help support the center. She was a member of the El Paso Symphony Guild, volunteered at Providence Memorial Hospital, and supported UTEP athletics. She was instrumental in generating contributions from local car dealerships and businesses to help establish the Frank Manning Little League in West El Paso, and was a member of Coronado Baptist Church.
The Penningtons returned to Amarillo in 1998, where they joined the First Baptist Church. There, Mrs. Pennington volunteered for the Special Olympics and was actively involved in the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
Pennington was preceded in death by her husband in 2001, and a granddaughter, Ashley Brooke Pennington, in 1983. She is survived by her daughter, Paige Pennington of Waco; sons John Pennington Jr. of El Paso and Kurt Pennington of Amarillo; three sisters, Buff Rank of Amarillo, Hazel Hopwood of Hannibal, Mo., and Frances Swayze Jones of Cleburne; two brothers, Kenneth Swayze of Wylie and Jim Swayze of Dallas; and five grandchildren, Angel, John III, Jordan, Lauren and Jamie.
Services were held on June 16 at the First Baptist Church in Amarillo, with Dr. Howard K. Batson officiating. Interment was in Llano Cemetery.
Memorial contributions may be sent to the Special Olympics, 112 W. Eighth Ave., Amarillo, Texas 79101; or to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, N.E. Texas Chapter, 2929 Carlisle, Suite 230, Dallas, Texas 75204.
From El Paso area - 2003
James DeHaven Horn
Retired White Sands meteorologist and national bridge champion James DeHaven Horn, 74, passed away on July 4th. Born in 1929 in Chicago, Horn moved with his mother to Austin, Texas after his father died and then to El Paso where he attended Austin High School. He entered the Air Force in the early 1950s and was stationed in Japan during the Korean War, retiring with the rank of major. He later became a Lt. Col. with the Air Force Reserves. He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin and did his graduate work at UCLA.
“Stormy” Horn worked as a research meteorologist while in the Air Force and, later, at White Sands. His wife Sandra recalls that he earned his nickname while with the Reserves in Roswell, New Mexico.
“He told his pilot that the light rain they were having would be gone in the morning. Instead, it rained for ten days straight—the ‘rain of the century,’ I think they called it. After that, he was known affectionately as ‘Stormy.’”
After his retirement, Horn taught math, applied physics and astronomy at El Paso Community College and was a judge for numerous junior high and high school science fairs in the El Paso, Socorro, and Ysleta school districts. “He enjoyed the science fairs,” says Sandra Horn, “because he liked kids so much.”
Horn was a Diamond Life Master in bridge, winning many regional titles and two national titles, and was the highest point holder in El Paso. “He was basically a very gentle man,” says Sandra, “but a fierce competitor at the bridge table.” While working as an engineer for the Bureau of Standards in Colorado, Horn, with fellow engineer Dick Reed, developed and wrote a bridge system still played by several El Pasoans. “It’s a complicated system,” says UTEP professor and bridge player Robert Esch, “which he modified with those whom he played. He was a brilliant analyst of hands.”
In addition to his wife, Horn is survived by a son, Jim; daughters Amber Lovette of Lubbock, Texas and Valerie Beth Adams of Brighton, Colorado; and twin granddaughters Madison Louise and Alexis Marie Adams. Private burial was at Ft. Bliss National Cemetery.
From El Paso area - 2003
Dr. Robert Nering, known as ‘Dr. Bob,’ dead at 79
Prominent El Paso physician A. Robert Nering, 79, passed away on July 5. Born in Cicero, Illinois, on March 8, 1924, Nering spent his childhood in Oak Park, Illinois and moved to San Antonio during his teens. He graduated from the University of Texas Medical School at Galveston in 1947 and that same year married Marian Louise Kane of Topeka, Kansas. After interning at St. Luke’s Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri, Nering moved to El Paso to do his residency at what was then El Paso General (now Thomason) Hospital and opened his family practice in 1949.
“Dr. Bob,” as he was affectionately known to his friends, colleagues, and patients, was passionate about the practice of medicine and, during his forty-seven years as a physician, could claim delivery of two generations of El Pasoans. For a while, Nering specialized in industrial medicine, working as company doctor for ASARCO, Farah, Hortex, and Southern Pacific Railroad. He was also team doctor for the then-Texas Western College football team. His patients remember him as a kind, caring, and colorful figure who always seemed to have enough time for them.
Nering was a charter member of the Academy of Family Practice, serving on many of its boards, and the El Paso County Medical Society. He continued his Army career with the Texas National Guard, retiring with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.
In his spare time, Nering enjoyed his weekly golf game and sailing with his two sons. Son Mark says, “The three of us shared a passion for high sea adventure.” When he could no longer sail, Nering took up model shipbuilding, sometimes spending up to two years to build his museum-quality models such as the U.S.S. Constitution. His wife Marian says, “When we built a new home not too long ago, we built our living room around the ships.”
Bob Garland, Nering’s friend of over fifty years, says of him, “Bob Nering lived life to the fullest. He worked hard and played hard and had a lust for life like no other. He was a dear friend and will be sorely missed by his many other good friends.”
Nering is survived by his wife Marian; son Mark and wife Leticia and their daughters Marissa, Vanessa, and Laura; daughter Marcia and husband Grant Hess and their children Stephanie and Michael; son Robert; and grandson Pierce, whose mother Tina Nering Lowrey preceded her father in death. A memorial mass was held on July 10 at Queen of Peace Catholic Church. Private interment was at Fort Bliss National Cemetery with military honors.
From El Paso area - 2003
Frances Brainerd Parrish Miller dies at 88
Retired librarian and long-time El Paso resident Frances Brainerd Parrish Miller passed away on July 29. She was 88. Mrs. Miller was born in Muskogee, Okla., on April 29, 1915, one of five daughters of Ezra Brainerd, Jr. and Edith Hubbard Brainerd. She lived in Muskogee until she was 12, when her parents moved to Washington, D.C. She spent a little over a year at Middlebury College in Vermont before moving back to Washington, where she completed her undergraduate degree at George Washington University. After working in sales for a number of years, Mrs. Miller decided to go back to school and received a library of science degree from the University of Denver.
She moved to El Paso in the 1950s and went to work for the El Paso Public Library, becoming the city’s first Bookmobile Librarian when that program was instituted. She later became employed with the El Paso Independent School District, where she worked for 17 years. In 1971, she married Allen (Doc) Miller, a retired salesman for U.S. Gypsum Corporation. Before she retired in the early 70s, Mrs. Miller was head librarian at Bassett Middle School.
Mrs. Miller was preceded in death by her husband, Allen. She is survived by her sister, Edith Brainerd Walter of Washington, D.C.; her sons Brainerd (Bud) S. Parrish and Ernest H. Parrish of El Paso, and Frank H. Parrish of Las Cruces. She is also survived by grandchildren Christine Parrish of Denver, Colo.; Genise Fuentes of Arlington, Va.; David Parrish of Houston, Texas; Blayne Parrish of Denver, Colo.; Lacey Liddell of Surprise, Ariz.; and great-grandson Andrew James Liddell of Surprise, Ariz.
Mrs. Miller was a member of the First Presbyterian Church of El Paso. A memorial service was held at White Acres Good Samaritan Retirement Village. Interment will be at Memory Gardens of the Valley in Santa Teresa, New Mexico. Memorial contributions may be made to the Visiting Nurse Association of El Paso, or to a favorite charity.
From El Paso area - 2003
Former mayor’s sister, Doris Henderson Benson, dies at 68
Former El Paso resident Doris Henderson Benson, 68, passed away on Aug. 8. Born in Alamogordo, N.M., in 1935, Benson had been living in Fairhope, Ala., for the last 10 years and was planning on moving back to El Paso at the time of her death.
Mrs. Benson was preceded in death by her father, Howard D. Henderson, and her mother, Nellie Mae Curtis, of El Paso.
Mrs. Benson’s brother and former El Paso Mayor Don Henderson, in whose insurance company she worked for 10 years, says that his sister was a “very private person,” but that she enjoyed maintaining contact with former classmates and friends.
“She must have had a huge card file of some kind,” says Henderson, “because she never forgot a birthday, anniversary, or holiday. I heard from a woman recently whom Doris had befriended in the fifth grade and who never lost touch with her. Doris was just a nice, caring and gentle person.”
Mrs. Benson is survived by three daughters: Sharon N. Bancroft of Orange County, Calif.; Susan R. Smith of Semmes, Ala., and Diane L. Jones of Fairhope, Ala.; one son, Mark R. Ogden of Fairhope, Ala; one brother, Don S. Henderson of El Paso; stepmother Ollie Causey of El Paso; two half-sisters, Evelyn Oxley of Jackson, Mo., and Marty Valle of El Paso; a stepsister, Donna Manning of El Paso; and eight grandchildren: Chad A. Berlinghier of Orange County, Calif., Gary L. Smith of Semmes, Ala., Mark W. Smith of Semmes, Ala., John C. Smith of Semmes, Ala., D’Andrea S. Jones of Fairhope, Ala., Tyler R. Jones of Fairhope, Ala., Brandon R. Ogden of Denver, Colo., and Dante C. Ogden of Texline, Texas; and five great-grandchildren: Gary L. Smith III, Hunter Smith, Christopher Smith, Winter Smith, and Timber Smith, all of Semmes, Ala.
A graveside service was held on Aug. 19 at Memory Gardens of the Valley in Santa Teresa. Contributions may be made to the James H. Jauncey Fund at El Paso Community Foundation.
From El Paso area - 2003
Carlos Adrian Meneses and his twin brother Ethan Jerry Meneses, 14 months, died Dec. 2. The twins succumbed after a faulty heater leaked poisonous fumes through a partition into the room where they were napping.
The boys are survived by their mother and father, Beatrice Adriana Duran and Carlos Alberto Meneses, and sister Namyra Marie Meneses. They are also survived by the maternal grandparents, Adelina Duran and Gregorio Duran, and paternal grandparents, Rosa Maria Sierra and Jose G. Meneses, aunts Abigail and Elizabeth Duran, Maria E. and Guadalupe Meneses; uncles Steve and Greg Duran and Jose G. Meneses.
Visitation wias set for 5:30 to 7 p.m. today (Dec. 7) at St. Anthony’s Catholic Church in Anthony, N.M. A rosary was follow at 7 p.m. The Funeral Mass will be at 2 p.m. Monday, Dec. 8, at St. Anthony’s.
Donations can be made to Wells Fargo Bank under the name of Beatrice Duran, account 2871009482.
From El Paso area - 2003
Marian Hardin Park
was born in Hopewell, Va., Aug. 3, 1918. She was the daughter of James and Carrie Hardin but was reared by an aunt and uncle, Lee and Harry Medlin. She died Saturday, Nov. 8, in Tyrone, N.M., at the age of 85.
Marian attended Farmville State Teachers College, and taught in the public schools in Va. She then received a masters of Religious Education from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.
She married George C. Park in 1945 when he was a chaplin in the U. S. Army. He later served in the Korean War. George preceded her in death in 1993.
From their union were born Karen Lee Park Boyers, George C. Park, Jr., and Robert C. Park. They were also blessed with seven grandchildren.
Marian followed her husband to pastorates in Oklahoma, Nocona, Texas, Los Alamos, NM, Las Cruces and as pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church in El Paso for 23 years.
Marian moved from their retirement home in Colorado to Silver City in 1996. While there she was a member of First Baptist Church. Services will be held at First Baptist Church of Silver City Thursday, Nov. 13. Interment will be at Ft. Bliss Cemetery at 2 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 13.
In lieu of flowers the family requests donations be made to Hospice of Silver City or any favorite charity.
From El Paso area - 2003
Wesley Arthur Wilson
80, passed away Sunday, Nov. 9.
Born in Brooklyn, New York, the long-time El Paso resident served in the United States Army for 22 years, including tours of duty during WWII and the Korean War.
After his retirement from the Army, he was a civil service employee for 15 years, working as an instructor at the Air Defense School at Fort Bliss.
Wilson was a member of the El Paso Archaeological Society and the Amateur Radio Club.
He is survived by his wife, Gladys Wilson; his son, Glenn Wilson; his daughter, Dr. Linda Bell; his son-in-law, Dr. Myron Bell; his grandchildren, Briahna, Michael, Olivia and Maurice; and his niece, Gail Hairston. Interment took place at Fort Bliss National Cemetery with full military honors.
From El Paso area - 2003
