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In Memory of Our Classmates
Tracey Maner Ripley
June 14, 1966 - March 19, 2007
Randy and
Tracey (Maner) Ripley, Stacey (Maner) and John Montgomery,
Mason and Tyler Montgomery, Rachel Ripley (July 2004)
Ripley, Tracey Lee Maner Tracey Lee Maner Ripley, 40, a teacher,
died Monday, March 19, 2007, in Fort Worth.
Funeral: 10:30 a.m. Friday at Eleventh Avenue Church in Mineral Wells
and 3 p.m. at Comanche Funeral Home in Comanche. Burial: Union Cemetery
in Gustine. Visitation: 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday at the funeral home.
Published in the Star-Telegram on 3/21/2007.
Published:
March 22, 2007, Mineral Wells Index
Tracey Lee Maner Ripley, 40
Comanche Funeral Home/Comanche, Texas
Tracey Lee Maner Ripley, 40, of Gustine, Texas, died
March 19, 2007, at Harris Methodist Hospital in Fort
Worth, Texas.
Two funeral services are scheduled for Mrs. Ripley. At 10,30 a.m.
Friday, March 23, service is at the Eleventh Avenue Church, Mineral
Wells, with Charles Mays and
R.B. Shiflet officiating. A second service is 3 p.m. at the Comanche
Funeral Home Chapel in Comanche, Texas,
with John Ward and Charles Mays officiating. Burial will
be in Union Cemetery in Gustine, Texas with Comanche Funeral Home in
charge of arrangements.
Family will receive friends 6-8 p.m. Thursday at Comanche Funeral Home.
She was a loving wife, mother, daughter, sister and friend who went to
be with the Lord.
She was born June 14, 1966, in Mineral Wells, Texas to Leonard N. Maner
and Shirley Tanner Maner.
She was united in marriage to Randy Ripley on Oct. 9, 1993, in Mineral
Wells.
Tracey graduated from Mineral Wells High School, the University of North
Texas with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and Tarleton State University
with a Mid-Management Degree in Education. She was the illustrator and
author of “Colorful Comanche County, An ABC Book to Color,” a historical
coloring book published in 2006.
She is survived by husband, Randy Ripley, Gustine; daughter, Rachel Lee
Ripley, Gustine; parents, Leonard and Shirley Maner, Mineral Wells; twin
sister and brother-in-law, Stacey and John Montgomery, Abilene, Texas;
nephews, Tyler and Mason Montgomery, Abilene; mother-in-law, Dortha
“Dot” Ripley, Gustine; grandmother, Ernestine Maner, Mineral Wells;
numerous aunts, uncles, cousins, other relatives and students.
Family requests memorials be made to the Eleventh Avenue Church, 206
W.W. 11th St., Mineral Wells, TX 76067.
Chuck Phariss
Dec. 10, 1965 - March 8, 2007
March 14, 2007 Mineral Wells Index
Charlie “Chuck” Phariss, 41
Charlie “Chuck” Phariss, 41, of Pasadena, Texas, died
March 8, 2007, at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.
Service celebrating his life is 2 p.m. Sunday, March 11, at East Haven
Funeral Chapel in South Houston, Texas. Visitation is 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Sunday.
He was born Dec. 10, 1965, in Mineral Wells, son of Katherine Blenkers and
John Phariss. He was a quality control specialist for Solar Turbines of
Channelview, Texas, and president of the Pasadena Pony League Baseball
Association and member of Church of Christ.
He is survived by son, Chance Pharris of Pasadena; chosen son, Andrew
Barnes of Graford; brother and sister-in-law, Fred and Lisa Phariss of La
Porte, Texas. Extended family is, Mary Ann Gillispie, Carolyn Reid,
Sandra Lemley, Brenda Light, Matt and Jessica Gillispie and niece, Jessica
Lemley, all of Graford; and special friends, Mike, Donna and Matt Mills of
Deer Park, Texas.
Carla Gay Cox
16 Aug 1966 - 25 Sep 1983
In Memory of Our Teachers
Mrs. Beth Downs (1918 - 2007)
Beth Downs, 88
Beth Downs, 88, of Mineral Wells and Bath, Maine, died
March 9 at the home of her son and his family in Mineral Wells.
A memorial service is 11 a.m. Friday, March 23, at First Christian Church
in Mineral Wells.
She was born in Bath, Maine, on March 12, 1918, youngest of six children
of Libby and Wilfrid Caleb Trott. She was Salutatorian of the Morse High
School (Bath) class of 1935 and graduated in 1939 from the University of
Maine, where she was a member of Phi Kappa Phi academic honor society. She
began her teaching career that autumn in Lisbon Falls, Maine, continuing
the next year at Morse High School. In the summer of 1940 she completed
officers’ training in the Marine Corps, was commissioned as Second
Lieutenant, and served 4-1/2 years as Control Tower Operations Chief on
various Marine Corps bases in Georgia and North Carolina. While in the
Marine Corps she met Robert M. Downs, Marine fighter pilot. They married
in July 1945 and returned after the war to Bath, Maine, where Mrs. Downs
resumed teaching.
For most of her professional life Mrs. Downs maintained two careers: A
high school teacher in Mineral Wells from 1961 until retiring in 1983, she
taught mostly Latin and French, occasionally English, History and even
Algebra. At the same time, she was a professional church organist, serving
the First Christian and First Presbyterian churches in Mineral Wells and
the Church of the New Jerusalem in Bath, Maine, having returned there in
1986. In both cities she was widely sought as accompanist for weddings and
other occasions.
Wherever she lived, Mrs. Downs contributed significantly to her community,
as a musician, churchwoman, and civic leader. In Mineral Wells she was
active in the History Club and the Womans Club, often serving as an
officer in these organizations, and for many years she taught Red Cross
swimming lessons in the summer. In Bath, she was for several years
president of Church Women United, an active member of Friends of Popham
Beach, the Popham Circle, Friends of Patten Free Library and the Class of
1935.
A model of life-long learning, in addition to being a constant reader of a
wide variety of material, Mrs. Downs did graduate work at Harvard and
pursued a Master of Arts degree in French at TCU and Laval University in
Quebec City, Quebec, Canada, and incorporated her learning into her daily
teaching. She is remembered by many students as the best teacher they
encountered, one who inspired them to high aspirations and helped give
them the confidence to work toward achieving their goals. She did this by
not only skillfully conveying information; as all the best teachers do,
she genuinely educated her students, by carefully calibrating her teaching
so that each individual was better able to process that information into
true understanding, meaningful and useful, enriching them not only in the
present but throughout their adult lives.
She was predeceased by her husband on Dec. 25, 1979, and by a niece in
July 2006. She is survived by her children Deborah Downs-Miers of Kasota,
Minn., and Bath, Maine, Marshall and Moneisa Downs of Mineral Wells, and
Keith Downs of Kasota, Minn.; seven grandchildren; five
great-grandchildren; five nieces; and four nephews.
Class of 1984 Reunion
Committee
Mineral Wells High School, Mineral Wells, Texas
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This site was last updated
03/01/09
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