Obituaries

Lloyd Frederick Stoebner (1930-2006)
Lloyd Frederick Stoebner was a native of Miland County, Texas, and a longtime member of Permian Historical Society. His home was in Cameron, Milan County, Texas. He died 6 November 2006. 

Vernon Albert Vasbinder (1926-2006)
Vernon Albert Vasbinder was born 28 May 1926 in Del Rio, Texas, and graduated from Del Rio High School in 1943. Between 1943 and 1946, he served in the United State Navy during World War II. He graduated from Baylor University with a Bachelor of Science in 1949 and took a Master of Science at Sul Ross State University in 1957. In thirty-nine years of teaching public school, Vernon taught every grade except the second and retired while on the faculty of Odessa High School. He was an active community volunteer and a charter member of Permian Historical Society. Many counted him as a friend and are proud to have known him.

Enid Holm (1928-2006)
Enid Holm was a talented dancer, actress, director, author, and teacher. In the 1940s she began a professional career as a 15-year-old dancer in the Starlight Operettas, now known as the Dallas Summer Musicals. In 1948, she was named Miss West Texas and later was a runner-up to the Miss Texas title. After graduating from the Univeristy of Texas at Austin, Ms. Holm taught dance in Arlington and drama in Ector County schools. She made the arts her life and was the 2003 winner of Texas Medal of Arts Award. Ms. Holm was a charter and life member of Permian Historical Society. She died 22 August 2006.

Edith Irene McNerlin Springer (1915-2005)
Edith Irene McNerlin Springer was a native of Kent County, Texas. At Texas Tech, she majored in government with a minor in history and English. She became a country schoolteacher, spending twenty-six years in the schools of Valley View, Tarzan, and Lenorah. She and her teacher husband, Grover, sponsored Junior Historians at Grady School and encouraged students to research and write local history. Irene and Grover were members of PHS and each was honored with the Permian Pioneer Award in 1994. Edith was always willing to help out at the registration table for PHS meetings with a smile and a kind word.

Joseph Duke Pickle (1910-2005)
Joseph Duke [Joe] Pickle was born in Roscoe, Texas, and moved with his family to Big Spring in 1920.  He graduated from Big Spring High School in 1928 and Baylor University in 1932.  He started a career with the Big Spring Herald after college graduation and remained there forty-three years until his retirement in 1975.  Joe was recognized throughout the state for his journalistic work and his advocacy for a stable water source for West Texas communities.  He was secretary-treasurer and spokesman for the Colorado River Municipal Water District from 1948 to 1995. As a strong supporter of PHS for decades, he was named to the Academy of History in 1993, and served a term as its president. He was a man who made a difference in the world he lived in.

Eileen Eiland Welch (1928-2005)
Eileen Eiland Welch was a native of Midland, Texas.  She attended Hardin-Simmons University before she married farmer and rancher Charles Welch in 1946.  As the church organist most of her adult life, she was a faithful church member.  Eileen served as secretary-treasurer of Midland County Livestock Association for more than fifty years and was secretary of Midland Livestock Auction and Sandhills Hereford and Quarter Horse Show. She served as treasurer for Permian Historical Society for eighteen years and upon her retirement three people were needed to take her place.  She was honored with the PHS Distinguished Service Award in 2002 and was named a Permian Pioneer in 2003.  She was a dear friend to all who knew her.

Eddie Mae Hogg Woodward (1929-2005)
Eddie Mae Hogg Woodward was a rancher and a local historian.  She was interested in writing local and regional history and had published an article in The Permian Historical Annual. She was elected to the PHS Board of Directors and was appointed to the Editorial Board, at the time of automobile crash that ended her husband’s life and eventually her own. She was also active in community and civic affairs. Her family, the community, and Permian Historical Society lost a good member and a kind friend with the passing of Eddie Mae.

Barney C. McCasland (1917-2004)
Barney C. McCasland graduated from Texas Technological College in 1938 with a Bachelor of Science in Geology.  He worked in the oil industry as a pipeliner, seismographer, and marine geologist with Cities Service and a consulting geologist to various oil and mining concerns. Barney greatly appreciated life — in the present and the past. He was an active member of West Texas Geological Society and of Permian Historical Society. He is remembered for his inquiring mind and his friendly manner. 

Noble Hall Smith (1905-2004)
Noble Hall Smith was born and grew up at Granbury, Texas.  She was a schoolteacher, band director, and private piano teacher in Crockett County in 1925, when she married rancher Elton Smith.  She played the piano and coronet in the Lucky Strike Lady Band and for Lawrence Welk, when he came to San Angelo and to Rankin County Club in the 1920s and 1930s. Noble was always interested in history as a member of Texas Historical Commission, Texas Archaeological Association, and Texas Museum Association. She was a strong supporter of Permian Historical Society, serving on the Board of Directors for many years and driving hundreds of miles to attend meetings. Noble lived in Van Horn, Texas, and is remembered by all who ever met her as a dear friend and an interesting woman.

 Betty Wingate Orbeck (1929-2004)
Betty Wingate Orbeck organized Ector County Historical Survey Committee in 1958 and was co-founder of Permian Historical Society, serving as its executive vice president from 1958 to 1962 and as its archivist until 1978.  She worked eight years as research assistant for Dr. Samuel D. Myres as he wrote a two-volume petroleum history of the Permian Basin.  She was the first archivist at Permian Basin Petroleum Museum, Library and Hall of Fame and remained in that position from 1976 until retirement. She was a local historian who was always willing to help researchers. 

Dr. H. Warren Gardner (1939-2004)
Warren Gardner was a native of Kansas, where he was educated at Sterling College, Emporia State University, and University of Kansas at Lawrence (PhD, History).  He came to The University of Texas of the Permian Basin in 1983 to serve as the Vice President of Academic Affairs.  In 1996 he returned to the history classroom and reestablished his reputation as a master professor, winning the Outstanding Teaching Award in 2003.  He also served as the Interim Director of the John Ben Shepperd Public Leadership Institute.  He was president of Permian Historical Society in the 1980s and editor of The Permian Historical Annual for many years. He was winner of the PHS Distinguished Service Award in 2003.  He was a kind friend, an outstanding professor, and a careful editor.