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THACKER, JOE WELTON

contributed by Bessie Meredith

BORN: AUGUST 3, 1920
DIED: DECEMBER 10, 2002

Joe Welton Thacker of Paris left this world at 2:40 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2002, at the age of 82 years, 4 months and 8 days.

Funeral services are set for 10 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 12, in the chapel of Fry & Gibbs Funeral Home with the Rev. Byron Howard officiating. Burial will be in Warner Memorial Cemetery in Warner, Okla., at 4 p.m. Thursday under the direction of Fry & Gibbs Funeral Home.

The family will receive friends from 7 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 11, at the funeral home.

He was the youngest child of John B. and Nannie L. Lawson Thacker.

His parents and four siblings preceded him in death: his mother on Oct. 22, 1959; his father on July 29, 1960; a brother, Judson C. Thacker, on May 3, 1983; a sister, Lonetta Thacker Rawlings, on Nov. 24, 1986; a second brother, Jasper P. Thacker, on April 23, 1993; his oldest sister, Grace A. Thacker Bookout, on Dec. 5, 1999; and one grandson, Michel Wayne Murphy, on Jan. 3, 1963.

At the age of eight, his family moved to Norman, Cleveland County, Okla., and in his teens, they made their home on east in Warner, Muskogee County, Okla. His parents lived there until their deaths.

As a young man during the Depression, he served in the CCs. After returning home, he married Nola L. Harp on Nov. 5, 1938, in Muskogee County, Okla. To that union was born three children: Shirley Jo, Peggy Joyce and Robert James, called “Bob.” He returned to Norman seeking work with his young daughters and wife in 1942. In 1943, Robert was born in Oklahoma City, Okla. Shortly after that, they moved to Borger in the Panhandle of Texas where he was employed by Phillips Petroleum for 30 years, retiring in 1976.

For a short while after retirement, they made their home in Sawyer, Okla., moving to Paris in 1982 and have been residents of this city since that time. He was a longtime member of the Baptist faith and a member of Ramseur Baptist Church in Paris. He was involved in many local charities when his health still permitted him to do so.

He leaves his wife, Nola Harp Thacker of Paris; three children, Shirley Hartman of Paris, Peggy Mitchell of Midlothian, and his son, Robert James “Bob” Thacker of Iron Station, N.C., to mourn his passing. He has two sons-in-law, Eldon Hartman of Paris and Weldon Mitchell of Midlothian. He is also survived by eight grandchildren; 17 great grandchildren; four great-great-grandchildren; and many extended family members and friends.

Pallbearers will be Jerry W. Stott, Sean McIntire, Lee Anderson, Richard Anderson, Danny Anderson and Casey Nanez.