Thelma McNeal

Thelma Pearl McNeal, 77, of Odessa passed away Sunday, January 6, 2013 at Sherwood Place. She was born April 16, 1935 in Buchanan County, Missouri.

She was a christian and longtime member of Northside Baptist Church.

Thelma quietly and courageously overcame the challanges of severe rheumatoid arthritis every day. She was loved and cared for by her husband Guy for 58 wonderful years of marriage. She met Guy when he was stationed in Kansas with the US Air Force. He tells his kids and grandkids stories of how she was "the cutest girl in town and it took him over 6 months to get the nerve to ask her out. He said he felt blessed that she picked him."

Family was extremely important to her. She spent hundreds of wonderful hours with her longtime friend Kay Crumrine, winding thru rolls of micro fish at the library. She loved geneology. She followed her family history thru newspaper articles, public records and trapsed thru old cemeteries on family vacations. She would follow a lead to the ends of the earth (or in her case Utah) to find "just one more generation." She researched her family history for so many generations back she said "she tracked them back to before they came over on the boat! and by "boat", she meant "THE ARK". She was very proud that she had published her children's family history and had that documented for them so they would always know where they came from.

She is survived by her husband, Guy F. McNeal of Big Spring, daughters, Guylene Sanders & husband Joe of Odessa, Susan Jones & husband Jeff of Odessa, brother, Conner Harvey of Centralia, Kansas, sister, Ada Strahm, of Fairview, Kansas, (6) grandchildren, & (11) great-grandchildren.

She was loved and will be missed.

There will be a visitation 5:00 to 6:30 p.m. Thursday, January 10, 2013 at Hubbard-Kelly Funeral Home.

Funeral services will be held at 1:00 p.m. Friday, January 11, 2013 at Hubbard-Kelly Funeral Home Chapel with Rev. Clydel Chapman officiating. Interment will follow at Sunset Memorial Gardens.

Services entrusted to Hubbard-Kelly Funeral Home.