A woman of strength, grace, and determination, Evelyn approached life with enthusiasm, love, and a keen sense of humor. Born on August 4, 1922, in Wausa, Nebraska, she was the daughter of James Perry Wall and Metta Madge Herndon Wall. Evelyn lost her mother to TB at a young age. Her father remarried and settled his blended family in Dallas, where Evelyn graduated from North Dallas High School in 1940, and McBride Secretarial School in 1941. Evelyn married her high school sweetheart, Ellis Warren Gunnels, on Sunday, January 23, 1944, at Greenville Avenue Christian Church in Dallas. Ellis was stationed at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, during WWII, where he trained replacement troops and Evelyn worked in the armory. After the war, the couple started their family and focused on Ellis’s long and successful career with Texaco, moving frequently across the USA.
Evelyn devoted her life to her three children, seven grandchildren, and seven great- grandchildren, organizing family cruises, trips to the mountains of New Mexico, and beach vacations in Galveston. Evelyn spent many years volunteering her skills as a secretary for her local church. She was a member and treasurer of the Alexander Love Chapter of Daughters of the American Revolution and was an avid and self-taught genealogist. Evelyn loved piano, excelled at crossword puzzles, was an early computer enthusiast, and she was a gifted seamstress who had a hobby of making children’s dolls.
Evelyn was preceded in death by her husband (2013); her eldest son, Stephen Hugh Gunnels (2017); her daughter, Martha Jean Germick (2020); and her stepsister, Evodna Thurman Marler (2014).
Evelyn is survived by her youngest son, Philip Eugene Gunnels; her half brother, James Richard Wall, of Guthrie, Oklahoma; her grandchildren; her great-grandchildren and many loving friends and extended family members.
A reception for Evelyn will be held Monday, October 3, 2022 from 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM at Memorial Oaks Funeral Home, 13001 Katy Fwy, Houston, TX 77079. A visitation will occur from 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM, 13001 Katy Fwy, Houston, TX 77079. A funeral service will occur Monday, October 3, 2022 from 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM, 13001 Katy Fwy, Houston, TX 77079.
Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.memorialoaksfunerals.com for the Gunnels family.
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