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Hill Country Community Journal - ObituariesWednesday, February 8, 2012 page 17a

JuniA Tryfon BoydJunia tryfon Boyd, 85, of Kerrville,

passed away on Jan. 29, 2012 in Ker-rville. She was born in poland to raisa

Elena Zaidlef onmarch 26, 1926.She marriedret. lt. Col.Donn t. Boydon July 3, 1946in Garmish,Germany.

She worked asa businessowner andhousewife.

Junia is preceded in death by hus-band, ret. lt. Col. Donn t. Boyd andson, michael W. Boyd.

Junia is survived by daughter, teresaof San antonio; granddaughter,Shaynna lynn of la Grulla, texas anda great-granddaughter.

Funeral services were held Feb. 3,2012 at St. peter’s Episcopal Church,with Father Stockton Williams offici-ating.

Grimes Funeral Chapels of Kerrville

olly fArnHAM (ClinK) ClinKsCAles, Jr.

olly Farnham (Clink) Clinkscales,Jr., passed from this life on tuesday,Jan. 31, 2012 at a local care center atthe age of 79. he was born to ollyFarnham Clinkscales, Sr. and ruby a.

Clinkscales inpalacios, texason Feb. 5, 1932.

Clink is sur-vived by his for-mer "wife,friend and for-ever love," Bon-nie Clinkscalesof Kerrville andher son, rexD a v i dClinkscales; sis-

ter, Charlotte J. and husband, Johnnieurban of portland, texas. he leavesbehind three sons and their respectivespouses, David and vicki Clinkscalesof venus, texas, Danny and lauraClinkscales of arlington,and Dale andJackie Clinkscales of Joshua; fourgrandchildren and numerous nieces,nephews and friends.

Clink was preceded in death by hisparents, sister and brother-in-law, JuliaFaye and Joe novosad, and a beloveddaughter, Deanna l. Clinkscales.

Services were held monday, Feb. 6Grimes Funeral Chapels, officiated byDeacon Charles Domingues. inter-ment followed at Garden of memoriesCemetery.

Grimes Funeral Chapels of Kerrville

GerTrude e. deGnerGertrude E. Degner, 99, of Kerrville

passed from this life at a Kerrvillehealth care center on tuesday, Jan. 31,2012.

Born in owatonna, minn. on June 5,1912, she was the daughter of John a.and libby (Soukup) Wavrin. She hadbeen a resident of Kerrville since1977, but with her husband, they livedin many cities in the united States andaround the world.

She attended a business college andwas a retiree of the Federal Govern-ment.

She married Forest Degner, whopredeceased her.

She was a member of the vFWauxiliary, the aarp, Eastern Star #24, ladies oriental Shrine of n.a. andwas a faithful member of the presby-terian Church.

Degner is also predeceased by herparents, and a sister, Dolores peterson.

those left to honor and cherish hermemory are her brother, melvinWavrin of Carpentersville, ill.; twonephews, allen Bryant and Conradpeterson; her caregivers and friends,Charles “Eddie” and mary Doyle anda host of friends.

according to her wished, serviceswill be private.

Kerrville Funeral Home

MelVin Bronson eVAnsmelvin Bronson Evans passed away

on Jan. 30, 2012 at his home on theGuadalupe river in hunt, with hiswife and children at his bedside. hewas 68 years old.

Bronson was born on Jan. 7, 1944,the only child of the late melvin andCatherine Evans. he grew up with aninnate sense of honesty and a built-in

dislike for au-thority. Becauseof this, hisyoung life was aconstant adven-ture and he“pushed the en-velope” ineverything hedid. these traitsonly intensifiedas he matured.

Bronson met, courted, and married abeautiful and free-spirited young lady,Karen laws, during this period. themarriage surprised many of hisfriends, but it endured and resulted intwo children, the loves of their lives,philip Bronson Evans and CatherineElizabeth (libby) Evans. these chil-dren added a whole new dimension toBronson’s life and brought un-dreamed-of happiness. he worked atbeing a dad with the same focus andintensity he demonstrated in every-thing else he pursued. he was a fan-tastic father and was absolutelydevoted to his family. he showeredthem with unconditional love.

Before the children, Bronson andKaren dabbled in various bar andrestaurant businesses in houston andaustin, including the texas opryhouse in austin. Finally, they decidedthe restaurant/bar business was too un-stable and returned to houston to openthe first six locations of Sound Ware-house.

inevitably, Bronson and Karen choseto leave the corporate environmentand go into something they could con-trol, without outside interference ormeddling. Working from a small,rented house in the Spring Branch areaof houston, they established whatwould become the very successfulamerican Student travel Company.When the company was purchased bya competitor, the Evans’ retired andmoved to hunt, where they designedand built a home at the confluence ofthe north and South Guadaluperivers.

Bronson had fun throughout his lifeand loved his family, his friends, andfly fishing, in just about that order. helived in Wichita Falls, Dallas, austin,and houston before moving to the hillCountry. he joked that he “had all thefriends he wanted,” but he made newfriends wherever he went. it was hisnature, just like the unbelievable en-ergy and innate honesty. his range offriends included liberals in austin andrepublicans in hunt. he valued thosefriends equally and was loyal to themto a fault.

Even though Bronson was an onlychild, in addition to his immediatefamily, he leaves behind six “brothers”who will cherish his memory: terryWorrell, Johnny Stafford, BobbySchaaf, Jerry moore, tommy John-son, and hugh ruggles.

a celebration of Bronson’s life will

be held on april 14, 2012 at a time tobe announced.

the family suggests that donationsin Bronson’s name be made to thehunt Garden Club Discovery Gar-dens, Greystone preparatory atSchreiner university, or a charity oftheir choice.

Kerrville Funeral Home

CHArles AlAn “CHArlie” HAMMiT

Charles alan “Charlie” hammit, 54of Kerrville, passed away Saturday,Feb. 4, 2012 at texsan hospital in Sanantonio. he was surrounded by hisfamily and was able to say “i loveyou” to his two daughters.

Born in Fredericksburg hospital andClinic on Wednesday, march 6, 1957,he was the son of thomas nicholshammit of oilton, texas, who servedin World War ii and met his beautifulFrench war bride from Grisolles,

France, lucetteamelie vau-marne. Charliewas the thirdson of fourboys.

he is survivedby his brother,reece and Jeanh a m m i t ,nephew mau-rice and wife,lauren and

great nephews, landon, Kaeson andpaxton hammit; brother, tom andlynette hammit and niece, Samanthahammit; brother, Denis and Karlahammit, nephew, Dustin and wife,Sarah and great niece and nephews,tristan, landon and vivienne. Charliehad two other childhood brothers, Scotand Jeff meadow. the three menshared their love for the outdoors andtheir brotherhood.

melissa marie became Charlie’sdaughter at 11 years old when he mar-ried her mother, Cathy mcmillan onnov. 22, 1992 in Corpus Christi. theymoved to Kerrville to start their newlife in Charlie’s hometown of Ker-rville. on november 9, 1994, they hada daughter, Shelby Elizabeth hammit,Charlie’s little mini me. Shelby sharedher father’s great love and passion forthe protection and care of any animal.

a celebration of Charlie’s life will beheld Feb. 11 at Grimes FuneralChapels at 1 p.m.

his ashes will be spread over themeadow ranch at one of Charlie’s fa-vorite places to be, in a private familyceremony.

Grimes Funeral Chapels of Kerrville

VerA e. HerTela funeral service for vera E. hertel,

88, of Kerrville, was held at KerrvilleFuneral home Feb. 3, with W.n.perkins, officiating.  a committal serv-ice followed at Friedrich FamilyCemetery, Fredericksburg.

hertel passed from this life at a Ker-rville health care facility on tuesday,Jan. 31, 2012.

Kerrville Funeral Home

PATriCK JAMes Kellerpatrick James Keller, 77, of Center

point, passed away on Friday, Feb. 3,2012 at his residence. he was born inSan antonio to alois and Clara Kelleron Dec. 12, 1934. he married Gwendal. o'Shea on april 16, 1955 in Sanantonio.

he attended school in San antoniowhere he graduated from Bracken-ridge high School in 1954. heworked as a switchman for union pa-cific railroad for 30 years before his

retirement. he was involved inymCa flag football where hecoached his grandsons' teams, was avolunteer umpire for Center point lit-tle league, and was an active memberof the Elm pass volunteer Fire Depart-ment. he was president of the Elmpass volunteer Fire Department for ayear and vice president for two years.

patrick is preceded in death by bothof his parents, alois and Clara Keller;his son, Steven a. Keller; and hisbrother, al Keller.

patrick is survived by his wife,Gwenda Keller; son, randy Kellerand wife Jackie; sister-in-law, Char-lotte Keller; sister, agnes Behrens andhusband, Eddie; brother, max Kellerand wife, Sharon; brother, mike Kellerand wife, Carolyn; brother, Don Kellerand wife, Sharon; and sister, Brandy(mary) todd and husband, Dwayne;grandson, Sean Keller and wife, lainealong with great-grandchildren, Col-son, Kennedy, and reed Keller;grandson, Cory Keller and wife, Ericaalong with great-grandchildren,Cheyenne and Colt Keller; grand-daughter, Courtney Keller, and numer-ous nieces, nephews, and friends.

Services were held Feb. 5 at GrimesFuneral Chapels of Kerrville. memo-rials can be given to hospice or theamerican Cancer Society.

Grimes Funeral Chapels of Kerrville

MArTHA Ann WilliAMsMilTinG

martha ann Williams milting, 74, ofKerrville went to be with Jesus onSunday morning, Feb. 5, 2012. Shewas born July 13, 1937 in hotSprings, ark.

martha is survived by her daughter,vicki mcKee and husband mitchell;granddaughters, rachel Stange andhusband Frederick, megan vick andhusband Dustin; brother, Fred J.Williams and wife loetta; niece,Charlotte parker and husband Jay,

their sonsStephen andWarren; andcountless spe-cial friends.

her belovedhusband, victormilting, went tobe with Jesus inJune of 2010.

martha wasknown for her

hospitality and she made everyone feellike they were family. her cookingwas legendary! people came frommiles around to sit at her table or at-tend one of her parties which led to herwriting a cookbook, "my Best toyou." She loved her church, Calvarytemple, and her great love of the lordbrought many to Christ.

Services were held at Calvary tem-ple Church Feb. 7.

memorials may be made to Calvarytemple Church, 3000 loop 534, Ker-rville, tX 78028 or peterson hospice,1121 Broadway, Kerrville, tX 78028.

Grimes Funeral Chapels of Kerrville

BeTH KiMBrouGH oliVer

Beth Kimbrough oliver of Centerpoint passed away Jan. 24, 2012 in

Comfort. She was born in haskell,texas to Bernice mask and FrankKimbrough to a noted texas footballfamily on July 15, 1928. Due to her fa-ther's coaching career, her familymoved frequently. She spent her child-hood in abilene, but when sportingprograms were cancelled due to WorldWar ii her father was recruited by thenavy to coach. his transfers resultedin her attending high school in Chapelhill, n.C.; Williamstown, mass.; andFt. lauderdale, Fla. before graduatingfrom Waco high School.

She attended West texas State uni-versity in Canyon, where she receivedher Ba in 1950 and remained an ar-dent football fan throughout her life. itwas a point of pride that WtSunamed Kimbrough memorial Sta-dium in honor of her father's accom-plishments as coach and athleticdirector. after obtaining her ma indrama from Baylor university, herfirst job was as a school teacher inClovis, n.m.

Beth married lt. George S. oliver,u.S. army on Feb. 21, 1953 in amar-illo. her frequent moves were goodpreparation for married life as an armyofficer's wife. Every move was seen asan adventure that came with opportu-nities to meet new people while ex-ploring different communities.

Beth is survived by her husband,Col. George S. oliver, ret.; son,George S. oliver Jr.; daughter-in-law,Daryn oliver; daughter, Kim oliver;son-in-law, James Stout (all of Centerpoint); granddaughter, Sheena Smithof San antonio; grandson, Sean Smithof Sterling, va.; brother, Col. FrankKimbrough, u.S. army ret. and fam-ily of augusta, Ga. and los angeles,Calif.

the family requests that in lieu ofmemorial flowers, contributions bemade to the american Diabetes asso-ciation or Juvenile Diabetes Founda-tion .

Services were held at St. peters Epis-copal Church in Kerrville and Bethwas laid to rest in the Center pointcemetery.

Grimes Funeral Chapels of Kerrville

ViCTor l. rAMosvictor l. ramos, age 78 of Ker-

rville, passed away thursday, Feb. 2,2012 in a local care center.

memorial mass was held Feb. 7 atnotre Dame Catholic Church cele-brated by Father alberto Colin.

Grimes Funeral Chapelsof Kerrville

TiMoTHy JoHn sTeMtimothy John Stem, 65, went to be

with the lord on Jan. 27, 2010 at hishome in ingram.

he was born on oct. 13, 1946 inCleveland, ohio to Florence (Konicki)and John Stem. timothy served hiscountry in the u.S. army from 1965-1968 during the vietnam War and hasmany metals of valor.

he married Karen Fuchs on Feb. 15,1969 in Cleveland, ohio. he retiredfrom the K-mart Corp in the securitydepartment. he was an active memberof the vietnam veterans of americahill Country Chapter 863 and a life

member of the vFW, Dav and vva.timothy was a member of the notreDame Catholic Church.

he loved to play practical jokes onpeople and was a collector of ducksand knives.

he is preceded in death by his par-ents Florence and John and daughtertricia Stem.

timothy was survived by his lovingwife, Karen Stem of ingram; daugh-ters, tiffany Stem of parma, ohio,tara Strbo and husband Bruce ofBrunswick, ohio, tressa Jukes andhusband lester of Ballston Spa, n. y.;sister, Connie Sutter and husbandChuck of parmer, ohio; six grandchil-dren and one great-grandson; and dog,Daisy. he will be missed and loved bymany dear friends and family mem-bers.

memorial Services were held Feb. 4at the va hospital Chapel, Kerrvilleand a reception followed the service.

interment will be conducted at a latertime at the holy Cross Cemetery,Cleveland, ohio.

in lieu of flowers a donation can bemade to odyssey hospice of Kerrvilleand/or va volunteer services.

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Hill Country Community Journal Wednesday, July 18, 2012 Page 7

Mechler receives edward Jones award

Joyce Mechler of the financialservices firm edward Jones in KerrCountry recently won the firm’s“edward Jones Sr. founders award”for her exceptional achievement inbuilding client relationships.

Mechler was one of2,315 of the firm’s12,000 financial advisorsto receive this award.

“it is truly an honor tobe recognized for build-ing relationships withthose clients we serve,”Mechler said. “and it isalso quite inspirational toreceive an award namedafter a firm legend suchas edward Jones Sr. whowas so innovative andrecognized the need for quality fi-nancial advice for long-term individ-ual investors.”

the award is named after edwardJones Sr. who founded the firm in1922 under the principle that finan-cial advisors should be treated asbusiness partners rather than em-ployees. His insistence on always

treating others with respect is one ofhis enduring contributions to the ed-ward Jones culture.

“Joyce’s success hinges on herability to know and understand thefinancial needs and goals of her

clients, long-term individualinvestors,” said Jim Weddie,the firm’s managing partner.“our clients most appreciaterecommendations tailored totheir situations and the highlevel of personal serviceJoyce provides.”

edward Jones provides fi-nancial services for individ-ual investors in the unitedStates and, through its affili-ate, in Canada. every aspectof the firm’s business, from

the types of investment options of-fered to the location of branch of-fices, is designed to cater toindividual investors in the commu-nities in which they live and work.

the firm’s 12,000-plus financialadvisors work directly with nearly 7million clients to understand theirpersonal goals – from college sav-

ings to retirement - and create long-term investment solutions that em-phasize a well-balanced portfolioand a buy-and-hold strategy.

edward Jones embraces the impor-tance of building long-term, face-to-face relationships with clients,helping them to make sense of theinvestment options available today.

in January 2012, for the 13th year,edward Jones was named one of thebest companies to work for by “for-tune Magazine” in its annual listing.the firm ranked no. 5 overall andno. 3 in Large Size Companies.

these 13 “fortune” rankings in-clude top-10 finishes for nine years,consecutive no. 1 rankings in 2002and ’03, and consecutive no. 2 rank-ings in 2009 and ’10. “fortune” and“time, inc.” are not affiliated withand do not endorse products or serv-ices of edward Jones.

edward Jones is headquartered inSt. Louis, Mo. the edward Joneswebsite is located at www.edward-jones.com, and its recruiting websiteis www.careers.edwardjones. com.

mechler

the Kerr County Women’s Cham-ber is now accepting nominations forthe “outstanding Woman of the yearaward” to be presented oct. 11.

nominations forms are available atKerrville Chamber of Commerce of-fice at 1700 Sidney Baker, Guadalupenational Bank branch at 1309 Ban-dera Hwy., the Coldwell Banker of-fice at 1712 Sidney Baker, HillCountry State Bank branch at 1145Junction Hwy., Comerica Bank(Bank of the Hills) branch at 1075Junction Hwy. or Broadway Bankbranch at 500 Main St in Kerrville.

the award is given annually to aKerr County resident who hasdemonstrated a history of leadershipand commitment with the local com-munity. Criteria considered includereligious and charitable work as wellas civic and service commitments.

the outstanding Woman of theyear award is announced at the an-nual Kerrville area Chamber ofCommerce banquet.

tickets may be purchased throughthe chamber office at 896-1155.

nominations can be submitted toLinda Stilwell at Coldwell Banker,1712 Sidney Baker, Kerrville, tX78028, or faxed to Linda at 792-3757.the deadline for submitting nomina-tions is 4 p.m. on friday, aug. 31.

for more information, call LindaStilwell at 329-6456, or e-mail her atstilwel2@ktc.com.

nominationsneeded foroutstandingWoman of year

tuesday, July 17, marked the25th anniversary of the deaths of10 young campers in theGuadalupe river near Comfort,when a bus and a van were sweptoff the Hermann Sons Crossingin a flood.

the tragedy made nationalnews as emergency personnelraced to try to rescue the 43 Pot‘o Gold campers from the busand van, and later search for thebodies of the victims.

a memorial plaque was dedi-cated a year after the tragedy, justoutside the camp gate, and itreads, in part, “on July 17, 1987a disastrous flood swept away tenof our Pot ‘o Gold campers.those lost in the tragedy wereJohn C. Bankston Jr., Melaniefinley, Leslie Gossett, LageniaKeenum, Michael Lane, Michaelo’neal, Cindy Sewell, WilliamSewell, Stacey Smith (and)tonya Smith.”

the plaque says 33 othercampers, all mostly teenagersfrom Seagoville Baptist Churchat Balch Springs near dallas,were rescued and lists theirnames, then credits “… manyheroic and miraculous rescues byan army of city, state and nationalheroes.”

newspaper accounts of the timewere headlined “flood claims atleast 6,” “Bus, van swept intoraging river,” and “flood worstsince ’78.”

reports said nearly one foot ofrain fell in less than six hoursover West Kerr County, thenrolled downstream in a wall of

water. the water was reported tobe 16 feet above flood stage atHunt and 15 feet above floodstage at the then-upperGuadalupe river authority damin Kerrville at about 5:30 a.m.

the low-water crossing on Her-mann Sons road over the river isno more, replaced by a higherbridge just downstream, similarto the new Lemos Street bridge inKerrville.

But in the early hours of July17, 1987, that low-water bridgewas the crossing for campersevacuating from the churchcamp.

the heavy rains fell upstreambetween midnight and about 5:30a.m., and several camp vehicleswere attempting to cross the riverat about 7:30 a.m. that morning.

in the newspaper reports, oneyouth said their bus stalled andstarted to fill with water, after thevehicle in front of them made itacross. the passengers and drivergot out, forming a human chainto try to reach the riverbank.

But the force of the water, filledwith debris and tree trunks, wastoo strong and they were sweptoff their feet as the bus also wasswept away empty.

the van behind the bus sufferedthe same fate and those youngcampers and adults also could notget out of the water.

Most were rescued by linesfrom helicopters after clinging totreetops. that process also wasdangerous and one older womanfell from a rescue line about 30feet back into the water and died.

Survivors mostly suffered frombruises, abrasions and hypother-mia.

rescue efforts included heli-copters from emergency servicesand television news stations,emergency medical services per-sonnel from Kerr and KendallCounty, the Kerr County Sher-iff’s office under Sheriff CliffGreeson and state law enforce-ment officers from several de-partments.

the rescues took hours, andfamilies of the missing victimsstarted to arrive from northtexas, with many joining thesearch efforts.

By about 24 hours later, sixwere confirmed dead and fourwere still missing. newspaper re-ports said search dogs brought infrom Bexar County were assist-ing with the search.

the last of the 10 victims, JohnBankston Jr., was still beingsought on July 20, according tonews reports, and his body wasnever found.

Searchers found the bus aboutone-third of a mile downstreamfrom the river crossing at about5:45 p.m. on July 17, upside-

down with only the tips of thetires showing. Workers includingwet-suited divers pulled the busout of the water before oneclimbed through the windshieldand confirmed it was empty.

one aftermath of this tragedywas the installation of flood-warning devices along the riverthroughout Kerr County, to serveas a better warning system forresidents and visitors. thecounty’s many camps also wererequired to have emergency evac-uation plans filed.

Photos by Bonnie Arnold

in 1987, the Hermann Sons Crossing bridge over the Guadalupe River was more a low-water cross-ing, curving down to the river and back up the other bank. No bridge exists there now, and county of-ficials had a new higher bridge built just downstream after the 1987 bus tragedy and damage to theold bridge in the flood. Rescuers and searchers combed more than a three-mile stretch below thiscrossing for survivors and victims after the bus and van were washed off the bridge.

tragedy remembered on 25th anniversary

By Bonnie Arnold

Staff Writer

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This memorial plaquemounted on a concretepedestal was dedicated byPot 'O Gold Camp, county of-ficials and family membersafter the 1987 tragedy. It sitsoutside the camp gate.

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