Iva Hampton Hoblit

Iva was born on August 16, 1935 in the front bedroom of her grandparents’ small farm house in Pearl, Texas. She was the third child of Mabern and Wanda Hammack Hampton, and she would soon be followed by two more siblings. Like many families of her generation, her family was poor, but living in the country afforded the Hampton children the freedom to grow up without knowledge of their difficult economic circumstances. Iva often reminisced about her childhood, fondly recalling such things as the schoolhouse she attended, playing outside on hot summer nights, catching crawdads in creeks, and the chiggers that would invade their legs and arms in the summertime. She also fondly recalled the family’s first car, her first doll and her first new coat.

The family ultimately moved to Big Spring, Texas and Iva graduated from Big Spring High School in 1953. Iva was one of the most beautiful and popular girls in all of West Texas. During her high school years, she was active in many social and academic activities. She had the starring role of “Corliss” in the junior class play, “Meet Corliss Archer.” Her deathbed scene in the play was the talk of Big Spring for several years. During high school, she won the Texas state typing championship, typing over 100 words a minute on a manual typewriter. She also wrote a weekly society and gossip column for the Big Spring Herald newspaper. The column was called “HI-TALK”, and it was the goal of every young socialite in Howard County to get their name mentioned in Iva’s weekly column. As a senior, she was voted Big Spring High School Football Sweetheart.

As an adult, Iva relied on her intellectual and typing skills to become an accomplished legal secretary. Over the course of her 40 year legal career, Iva worked for some of the most prestigious law firms in West Texas and beyond. She served as the legal secretary for three Texas State Bar presidents. She developed an expertise in various areas of the law, including real estate, oil and gas, banking and probate law. Many smart lawyers in Odessa and Midland could enjoy their two martini lunches and Wednesday golf rounds, knowing that Iva was back at the office getting everything handled for the clients.

In 1961, Iva met Robert “Bob” Hoblit, a smart young lawyer from San Antonio. They would never be apart again. The two young legal professionals married and over the next 60 plus years, forged a life typical of all couples. As most people in life do, they experienced great accomplishments and some failures. They experienced many moments of great joy and some of sadness. They worked hard to provide for their three children, and they also experienced great adventures. They traveled to far away places and did simple things at home. Through it all, Iva maintained an exuberance and flair for life. If she went to a parent/teacher conference, she wore a stylish dress and beautiful fur coat. If she went duck hunting with Bob, she insisted on wearing red high heel boots! Their lifelong dedication to each other was something to admire.

For the most part, Iva didn’t smoke, drink or cuss. She was a Christian woman and enjoyed listening to gospel music. She had a major sweet tooth. She never tasted a flavor of ice cream that she didn’t love, and if no one was watching, she would prefer to have pie or cake for dinner. She loved collecting books and dolls. She was a world class garage sale shopper and could ravage the offerings of a garage sale host in the blink of an eye. She loved reading the newspaper and watching old movies. Her favorite movie, by far, was the 1965 film classic Dr. Zhivago.

The greatest joys in Iva’s life were her three children, four grandchildren and six great grandchildren. She loved hearing about the activities and accomplishments of all of them, and she took immense pride that out of her four grandchildren, two became lawyers, one an engineer and one a midstream competency analyst. She experienced profound sadness when her oldest daughter, Jeannie, succumbed to cancer after a courageous battle, but Iva took great solace in knowing that someday they would be reunited in Heaven. That day has now come, and Iva and Jeannie are together again.

Iva is survived by her husband and soulmate, Bob Hoblit, son Clay (Carol) Hoblit; daughter Bonnie Darville; grandchildren Ross (Laura) Darville, Shane (Whitney) Darville, Rachel Hoblit, and Martha (Gareth) Kirk; six beautiful great grandchildren; sister Patricia (James) McDowell; son-in-law Alex Kashirin, and lots of other family and friends who will miss her greatly.

A family memorial service will be held at a later date, followed by interment at Trinity Memorial Park in Big Spring, Texas.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.frankwwilson.com for the Hampton Hoblit family.