Gertha Lee Draper Sears

A Celebration of life of Gertha Lee Sears will be held on Wednesday, April 3, 2013 at 2:30 p.m. at the Kemp Baptist Church in Kemp, Oklahoma. Burial will then take place at the Kemp Cemetery, with members of Gertha’s family serving as pallbearers. Alan Mattingly & Roger Speers will officiate the services.

Gertha Lee Draper Sears was born on December 16, 1926, in Lindale, Texas, to Gertha Cloey Capps Draper & Cyras James Draper. She was the third of six children. She spent her childhood in southern Oklahoma and attended schools in Yarnaby & Kemp. On October 15, 1941, she married William J. Sears in Durant, Oklahoma, and they had four children. They were married for a little over 44 years before his death in 1986. They spent several of their early years of marriage in Bryan County Oklahoma before moving to Texas, eventually settling in Denison in 1957. Gertha lived at her home in Denison until September 2007, when her declining health required 24 hour care. She moved in December of that year to the Whitesboro nursing home to live out her remaining years. She passed away peacefully into the arms of Jesus at the Whitesboro Nursing Home on Easter morning, March 31, 2013.

Gertha, who was affectionately known by her family as “Mamaw”, had an extremely strong work ethic and worked hard all of her life. She faced many obstacles & challenges along the way, but her unwavering faith in God and great love of her family always gave her the strength to keep going. In fact, she once said that the one thing she hoped to leave to her kids & grandkids was the strength and the will to keep going & to persevere, no matter how hard things got. One of the many examples of this was the fact that she left high school in the 11th grade at the age of 14 to get married, then returned to school at Grayson College in her 50’s to earn her GED.

Gertha worked at Levi Strauss in Denison from 1957 until the plant closed in 1984, mostly as an inspector, as well as serving as a United Garment Workers Union representative. Every year, all the grandkids would be so excited at Christmas because they all knew they would get a new pair of Levi’s jeans or a Levi’s jean jacket! When the Levi’s plant closed, Gertha went to work at Cigna Healthcare, where she worked for 15 years in the mailroom until her final retirement on 6-1-2000 at the age of 72. Even though she always worked a full time job, she made every effort to be at every football game, basketball game, piano recital, graduation, and any other activity that her grandchildren were involved in for as long as her health allowed. She also loved to travel and took many trips with her friends & church family. She was a die-hard Cowboys fan and rooted for them faithfully, through thick & thin.

Perhaps most importantly, Mamaw would want to be remembered as a strong, devout Christian woman. She believed with all her heart in Jesus Christ as her Savior, and it was only fitting that she entered the gates of Heaven on Easter morning! What a glorious celebration of the resurrection of Christ and Gertha entering Heaven in her new heavenly body…one without illness or disability or pain. She was baptized at a young age at the Kemp Baptist Church, always served God, and attended church faithfully wherever she lived. When the family moved to Denison in 1957, she joined East Baptist, and later Parkside Baptist, where she enjoyed and cherished her church families.

Gertha truly was an amazing woman. She took on great responsibilities at a very young age and never shirked any of them. She made full use of her many talents and was never shy about standing up for what she believed in. Among many other acts of kindness and service to others, she was a 10 gallon plus blood donor at the Sherman bloodbank.

Gertha is survived by her two daughters, Jan Fowler of Sadler and Melba Wood and her husband Prince of Whitesboro; one son, James Sears and his wife Patty of Bloomington, Illinois; two sisters, Retha Duckworth of Weatherford, Texas and Margaret Clark of Victoria, Texas; brother-in-law Paul Sears of Achille, OK; 2 sisters-in-law, Pauline Draper of Denison and Florine Draper of Greenville, TX; 5 grandchildren (Eddie Wood, Tony Wood, Nancy Thomason, Sharon Lemons and Marcie Aterberry), 12 great-grandchildren, 4 great-great grandchildren, numerous nieces, nephews, and cousins, as well as many friends and former co-workers.

She was predeceased by her parents; her husband, W. J. Sears; 3 brothers (Earnest Draper, Riley Draper & J.T. Draper); a son, Richard “Ricky” Wayne Sears; a son-in-law, Kenneth Fowler; a granddaughter, Joy Wood; and a great-grandson, Ricky Peregrine, Jr.

The family would like to give a very special “thank you” to Calvin Holland of Always Better Care, the entire staff of Always Better Care and to the caring staff at the Whitesboro Nursing Home for the loving care & assistance they provided to our loved one over the past 5 years. You all made her last years the best they could be and that, we are grateful.

Arrangements are under the direction of Bratcher Funeral Home in Denison.