She was born on August 27, 1937 in Vealmoor, Texas to Ernest & Minnie Murray Clanton. After graduating from high school, she attended Business School in Joplin, Missouri and then Apostolic Faith Bible College in Baxter Springs, Kansas. She married David Arthur Neff on July 12, 1957 and they set up their household in Wichita, Kansas next door to her inlaws. Dava Lynn Neff (Willis) was born in 1958. They were transferred to Houston, Texas in 1959 where David worked for Braniff Airlines. Shawn David Neff was born in 1962. The family moved back to Wichita, Kansas in 1965 with the intent of David taking over the family business, Neff Salvage Yard. When that didn’t work out, the family moved back to Texas, this time in Alvin. With the opening of the Houston Intercontinental Airport in North Houston, David & Thelma built a house in Spring in 1969. On September 25, 1971, the family was involved in a fatal car accident with David being killed and Thelma in the hospital for nine months with numerous injuries. At the time of the wreck, Thelma was working for One Hour Martinizing Dry Cleaners. After several years of recuperating from her injuries, Thelma went to work for John Moore State Farm Insurance Agency in Spring. She learned the insurance business well and even trained a lot of the new agents for State Farm. She was also involved in the Oak Ridge Little League serving as Treasurer and President of the organization. Eventually, she & a partner opened a high risk insurance agency that flourished for several years. When that business was closed in the early 1990’s, she went back to work with State Farm. After working for several different agents, she went back to work for John Moore State Farm Insurance where she retired in 2004.
Thelma took care of her mother, who suffered from Alzheimer’s from 1994 to 2007. She also enjoyed attending her grandchildren's sports and school activities. She enjoyed crocheting, plastic canvas needlepoint, quilting, gardening and mowing her yard on her tractor. Tragically Alzheimer’s struck her also. Her kids gradually had to help her more & more with her activities. In January, 2020, she moved to Bristol Park, a memory care facility where she lived the rest of her life.
Those passing before her were her parents, Ernest & Minnie Clanton, her husband, David Neff and her grandson, Daniel Willis. Those surviving her are her daughter, Dava Willis and husband Tom, her son, Shawn Neff and wife Cyndi, granddaughter Rachel Erisman and husband Nathan, grandson David Neff and spouse John Hacker and granddaughter Bobbi Andrich and husband Austin. Great grandchildren are Ian, Autumn, Bentley, Charlie and Ralen. Also surviving are her siblings, Doris Welsh, Eugene Clanton and wife Carolyn, Jo Powell, Dwayne Clanton and sister-in-law, Edna Freeman and brother-in-law Alvin Hollis.
A visitation for Thelma will be held Monday, May 20, 2024 from 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM at Cashner Funeral Home, 801 Teas Road, Conroe, TX 77303. A funeral service will occur Monday, May 20, 2024 at 2:00 PM in Cashner Colonial Hall with burial to follow in Garden Park Cemetery. Memorial donations can be made to the Apostolic Faith Bible College at afbiblecollege.com or Connect Church at connectwoodforest.com. The family would like to thank the staff of Bristol Park for their care of Mimi over the last 4 ½ years and the staff of Enhabit Hospice.
