William Rutland Hope

William Rutland Hope, 45, was born May 31, 1973 at 3:58 in the morning to parents John Paul and Pamela Hope. Will passed from this life January 21, 2019 in Indianapolis, Indiana. He was born at the Iraan Hospital, by Dr. Edwin R. Franks and Dr. Tom Maberry. Once released from the hospital, they took him to his first home in Sanderson, TX, and he made his first debut at the Sanderson 4th of July roping and barbeque. He was an extremely quiet and good infant, sweet and cuddly. He started Kindergarten in Rankin, TX. Will’s family later moved to Hallsville where he started 1st grade. While growing up, Will and his Mother would get down on their knees and pray that he would be a tall man. They would mark his height on the door frame as he grew up. He wasn’t into studying, he was more into making muddy roads with his Tonka trucks. He didn’t call his parents mom and dad for a long time, instead calling them by their first names, John and Pam. He loved to ride his bicycle and play with the neighbor kids. He loved it when Marcia and Terry brought Kim and Robert down from Odessa. He also had great fun with Elizabeth Parekh, Sanjay and Eric. We would go to John’s parents farm in Breckenridge where he was able to play with Gene and JoGayles, Amy, Jason, Patti and Dennis’ Brandon. My sister Suzanne Hughes’ daughters, my nieces, Lisa and Yvette Albritton adored him from birth and took care of him, they were his sisters. Will had a very sweet personality, and it was fun having him in your car, riding shotgun when we were going places. He was able to say something really funny when things got too tense. Now, he did have a temper, but if you left him alone, he would get over it. Growing up, he seemed to be a little insecure, but finally, here recently, seemed to not really care about what anyone thought, maybe, because he knew, if you were looking back at some of his actions, that he wasn’t long for this world. He was dedicated by Bro. J. T. Pugh when he was four years old at the Odessa UPC. He never gave up on his strong belief in God, and was baptized in Jesus’ name and received the Holy Ghost at Calvary Tabernacle. Will loved to fish more than anything else in the world. In fact, he had told Tbone last month as they were going to feed the exotics that he would rather fish in Merrills Lake than anywhere else, maybe he felt that way because of the fact that Barry Hanson from television had come out and filmed a 30 minute episode of Will fishing on Merrills Lake.

Will graduated from White Oak High School in 1993, and continued on to Kilgore Junior College. He married Tonya Nordmeyer in February of 1997. A year later, William Seth Hope was born into their family. Seth was a joy to Will’s life. Will was so proud of Seth and loved him above everything, wanting to talk and be with Seth every chance he could. Will and Tonya found Abundant Life Church and all began going to church there.

Will has a stepmom, Vicky Haley Hope; stepbrothers, Jeff and Mike Ledry; half brother Steve Hope; sister-in-law, Fallon; step sister, Angela McFarland Wood; as well as two nieces and one nephew. He had a special light in his life, his Boston terrier, Rowdy.

A service to celebrate Will’s life will be held at 2 p.m. at the Abundant Life Church, 409 Money Street, Gladewater, TX under the direction of Lakeview Funeral Home, Longview, TX. Interment will follow at Hallsville City Cemetery, Hallsville, TX.