Greta Tallant Tatom

Greta is preceded in death by her husband Clayton C. Tatom and her parents Buck Otis and Josephine Wade Tallant, her sisters Lillie Faye Vinson-Norman and Wilma J. Carter Johnson, her brother Thomas "Bud" Tallant and also her in-laws George Fern and Lily Clements Tatom who thought of her as a daughter.

Greta was born August 30, 1935, in Henning, Tennessee. Her parents preceded her in death at an early age. She spent a year living in Mississippi with her Uncle Luther Tallant. She lived for a few years with sister Wilma in Indiana. She moved to live with Faye when she decided she wanted to complete high school in Tennessee. After graduation from Heywood High School in Brownsville in May 1953, she moved to Monahans, Texas, where her brother Bud was living, and made it her home for the next 66 years.

Sometime after moving to Monahans, she met Clayton. She was warned by several women of First United Methodist Church that even though he came from a good family he had a bit of a reputation and maybe she should stay away. On the other hand, long time Tatom family friend, Hellen Reese, told Clayton he'd better straighten up cause she was a smart one and he wasn't going to get anyone better. On January 7, 1956, Greta and Clayton were married.

On July 1, 1998, Greta was the first woman to be named president and chief executive officer of First State Bank of Monahans (now a branch of West Texas State Bank). She served in that position until she retired from the bank at the end of December 2002. She continued to serve as an advisory director of West Texas State Bank until leaving the position in 2011.

Greta's career in banking started back in 1976 when she went to work as a teller for the Texas Savings and Loan Association after working 20 years alongside Clayton in running their real estate and insurance agency. By the time she left Texas Savings she had moved up to a vice president and served as secretary to the board of directors. In 1983, she joined Kermit State Bank as a real estate loan officer, but at the time of her resignation, she held the position of executive-vice president and cashier, as well as secretary to the board of directors.

Throughout her accomplished career, Greta empowered women during a time when there were few women in senior banking positions. She served as mentor, proponent, promoter, and role model for many women in the banking industry and beyond.

Greta always had a willingness to work but most of all she had an eagerness to learn. Even though she decided against going to college when she accepted a job straight out of high school at Wooten Grocery Company in Monahans because she liked the weekly pay check, it did not mean she would not get an education. She spent her life continuing to learn from reading books and traveling with her family to visit every cultural or art museum she could. After retiring in 2002, Greta began listening and studying from various different lecture series on many of the subjects she would have loved to have studied formally in college like history of the Western world, philosophy, ancient literature, modern literature, and comparative religions. She was finally the one to put the old set of “Great Books of the Western World” that sat on the shelf for 50 years to use.

Greta is survived by her three daughters, Lynn Willman and husband Bruce of Austin, Texas, Leslie Eggemeyer and husband Ty of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Lorelei Tatom of Plano, Texas. Greta was affectionately known as GG to her four granddaughters, three great granddaughters, and one great grandson. In addition, she leaves behind several nieces and nephews.

A memorial service will be held at the First United Methodist Church of Monahans on Sunday, September 1, 2019 at 2:30 PM.

In lieu of flowers the family requests that donations can be made to St. Jude’s Research

Hospital, FUMC of Monahans, Monahans Special Olympics, or Doctors Without Borders.