"Pokey" Gibbs Snider Oakley

Norma Sue “Pokey” Gibbs Snider Oakley, 79, of Burnet passed away gently and peacefully Saturday morning August 11, 2012. Her family was with her. She was born December 3, 1932, to Asa Meredith Gibbs and Nannie Kate (McFarlin) Gibbs in Burnet. She was raised mainly in Burnet where she lived most all her life. She was very proud that both of her parents were from families deeply rooted in Burnet County for several generations. She was a most dedicated wife, mother, homemaker and retired Real Estate Broker.

Pokey attended Burnet Schools where she graduated in the Class of 1950. She was popular with her friends and participated in many school activities, was Drum Major in the High School Band and was Harvest Queen. She attended Tarleton University in Stephenville where she made the Dean’s List and later met and married Marion Loren (M.L) Snider, a cattleman on the Murchison Ranch (aka Honkey B Ranch) just south of Burnet. They later moved to East Texas where M.L. was a ranch manager in Clarksville. In 1962, M.L., along with owners and investors of the ranch, were killed in an airplane crash while returning from a cattle auction in Louisiana. Pokey returned to Burnet with her three young children, Eddie, Sue, and Alan to be home near family.

In 1963, Pokey met and married local pharmacist Roy H. Oakley, a native of Lampasas. In March 2013 they would have celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary. Before very long she gave birth to sons George and James. After her children were raised, and after Roy retired and sold the family drug store (A & O Pharmacy), Pokey and Roy were thankful to experience many years of traveling at home and abroad enjoying times together with themselves, family and many friends. Pokey was a long time member of Epsilon Pi Sorority and always looked forward to playing in her Bridge Club. She enjoyed cooking, caring for family and friends, and raising plants & flowers.

Pokey professed a strong belief in God and instilled the same in her children. She was a longtime member of the First Baptist Church in Burnet where she sang in the Choir and was active in the many things her children were involved with there. She thought of others constantly and was considerate of the concerns and issues of her family and friends, even during the days before her death. She will be sorely missed.

She is survived by her husband Roy; daughter Sue Brunson and husband Doug of Burnet; sons Eddie Snider and wife Cynthia Ross, Alan Snider and wife Kathy, George Oakley and wife Tammye, all of Burnet and James Oakley and wife Julie of Spicewood, and by 15 grandchildren, Emily King, Rebecca Snider, Jason Ross, Jaclyn Ross, Kelly Brunson, Kyle Brunson, Sean Snider, Samantha Snider, Danielle Oakley, Gavin Oakley, Phoebe Oakley, Ainsley Oakley, Keegan Oakley, Hannah & Aaron Marks. Her 2 great- grandchildren are Cal King and Cooper King. She is also survived by her sister Nancy and husband Dale Petty of Burnet, and brother-in-law Dr. Winfield P. Betty and wife Kathleen of San Antonio. Pokey is survived by her nieces Sarah Hyde, Nancy Stricker and Kathy Smith. She was preceded in death by her parents, husband M.L., sister Patsy Betty, and nephew Bill Hyde.

A visitation was held Monday, August 13 beginning at 6:00 P.M. at the Clements-Wilcox Funeral Home. Her funeral was held at 10:00 A.M. Tuesday at the First Baptist Church with Reverend Dr. Ricky Guenther officiating. Interment followed at Pleasant Hill Cemetery near Bertram. Honoring her as pallbearers were her sons Eddie Snider, Alan Snider, George Oakley, James Oakley, grandsons Kyle Brunson and Sean Snider, son-in-law Doug Brunson, and nephew Dane Warren.

Memorial contributions in memory of Pokey may be made to the Hill Country Community Foundation or a charitable organization of your choosing.

In May 1910, Canon Henry Scott Holland delivered a sermon at St. Paul's Cathedral in London following the death of King Edward VII, titled "Death the King of Terrors", in which he expolred the natural but seemingly contradictory responses to death: the fear of the unexplained and the belief in continuity. From the discussion of the latter he wrote:

"Death is nothing at all. It does not count. I have only slipped away into the next room. Nothing has happened. Everything remains exactly as it was. I am I and you are you, and the old life that we lived so fondly together is untouched, unchanged. Whatever we once were to each other, that we still are. Call me by my old familiar name. Speak of me in the easy way which you always used. Put no difference into your tone. Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow. Laugh as we always laughed at the llittle jokes that we enjoyed together. Play, smile, think of me, pray for me. Let my name be ever the household word that it always was. Let it be spoken without an effort, without the ghost of a shadow upon it. Life means all that it ever meant. It is the same as it ever was. there is absolute and unbroken continuity. What is this death but a negligible accident? Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight? I am but waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere very near, just round the corner. All is well. Nothing is hurt; nothing is lost. One brief moment and all will be as it was before. How we shall laugh at the trouble of parting when we meet again."