Obituaries

Margaret Etheridge
Services for Margaret Etheridge, 102, Dallas, were held July 10, 2010, at the Cedar Creek Bible Church in Kemp with the Rev. Bob Parry officiating. Burial was in Grove Hill Cemetery in Dallas under the direction of Eubank Cedar Creek Funeral Home in Mabank.
She lived in the Cedar Creek Lake area for more than a decade, starting in 1975.
She was born Margarat Datema July 14, 1907, in The Netherlands and died July 6, 2010, in Balch Springs.
When she was a toddler, her parents immigrated to Michigan and lived in the country near Grand Rapids.
Her father was a blacksmith and she was the oldest of seven children. They spoke Dutch at home.
Her parents were devout Christians and read the Bible before evening meal. They attended the Dutch Reformed Church.
When Margaret finished high school, she attended Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, Ill., preparing to become a missionary.
Her mother suffered a stroke, and as a dutiful daughter, she returned home to care for her, her siblings and the household.
After her mother’s death, she returned to Moody and graduated.
She went to Guatemala as a missionary under the Central American Mission (CAM).
In Huehuetenango, she became house mother at “Huehue Academy,” a primary boarding school for missionaries’ children.
During the seven months of the school year, she was in charge of the kitchen and dining room, and was school “nurse” and hostess for visiting parents and others.
The other five months of the year, she helped the Spanish church with its daily Vacation Bible School, did visitation with women of the church and taught women’s Bible classes.
She also visited several of the homes of the children at the Academy. One of those was the Newberry and Kitty Cox family, who lived in the mountains, necessitating a one-day trip on horseback.
In November, 1974, after nearly 30 years in the field, feeling somewhat tired and wondering if she should retire, she offered to come to the U.S. and care for the sick mother of a younger missionary nurse.
She rode through Mexico with another couple, who were also headed for the CAM headquarter in Dallas.
While there, she and the couple were invited to spend the weekend at the Cedar Creek Lake home of widower Newberry Cox, who had retired years before.
His wife, Kitty, died the previous August.
It was there Newberry proposed marriage to Margaret.
She accepted in December, and they married Jan. 25, 1975. She was 67 and learned to drive a car.
Unhappily, Newberry died the following year.
During her widowhood, Margaret became a wonderful mother and grandmother to the Cox children and grandchildren, even hosting an unforgettable family reunion at her home on the lake.
She became active in a nearby church, teaching women and teenage girls, hosting a monthly women’s prayer meeting.
Carl and Fleddie Etheridge, another CAM missionary couple who started a Bible Institute in Nicaragua, were in Dallas.
Fleddie died of cancer Jan. 25, 1981, and Carl married Margaret that July.
They lived on Cedar Creek Lake and traveled, even visiting some CAM missionaries in Spain, an uncle of Etheridge’s in the Netherlands and Carl’s son, David and wife, who were missionaries in Ireland.
As Dad Etheridge’s health began to fail, and he fell a number of times, and they moved to Twelve Oaks in Dallas, where they made many friends.
After four years, they moved to Balch Springs Nursing Home.
Three and a half years later, he died July 20, 2007, 26 years after he married Margaret and six days after celebrating her 100th birthday in the home of Cathy Cox Paul with 11 other relatives present. She received 64 birthday cards and e-mails. Most were from missionary kids from Huehue.
Sunbeam Etheridge Carpenter was one of the missionary children at Huehue Academy and never dreamed one day she would be calling Aunt Margaret “Mom.”
Cathy Cox Paul had the privilege of caring for Etheridge six hours every morning on alternate days during the last years of her life, when she could no longer see or hear well and her mind became confused.
The aides and others who worked and lived there also came to love her, too.
Etheridge was a loving, caring joyful person, who put the needs of others ahead of her own and most of all, dearly loved her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Survivors include her daughters, Joy Cox Bloyd, Forest Park, Ill.; Freida Thompson, Edinburg; and Sunbeam Carpenter, Terrell; sons David Cox, Brazil; Carl Cox, Virginia; and David Etheridge, Rockwall; many grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren, other family members and many friends.

Leslie Gerhardt
Graveside services for Leslie Leonard Gerhardt, 84, Malakoff, were held July 12, 2010, in the Payne Cemetery with Allen Hobgood officiating under the direction of Tomlinson Funeral Home in Malakoff.
Gerhardt was born April 2, 1926, in Rowena and died July 8, 2010, in Log Cabin.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Mary and Paul Gerhardt, and wife Alma Gerhardt, four brothers and one sister.
He was an aircraft foreman and U.S. Army veteran serving from 1945-47.
Survivors include his daughters Sharon Kay Ford and Danna Jo Allen, both of Log Cabin; seven grandchildren; 11 great-grandchildren; and three great-great-grandchildren.

John Long
Services for John Wade Long, 78, Gun Barrel City, are under the direction of Eubank Cedar Creek Funeral Home in Mabank.
Long was born Sept. 4, 1931, in Nashville, Ark., and died July 9, 2010, in Athens.
He was preceded in death by his parents, wife Mary Sue Long, and son John Wade Long Jr.
Survivors include daughter Debbie Wallis and husband Troy, Gun Barrel City; granddaughters Melissa Compoc and husband Jason and Shelly Talbot and Daniel Degarmo; grandsons John and Jacob Wallis; great-grandsons Joshua Demayo and Christopher Compoc; great-granddaughters Emma Compoc, Lily Degarmo and Eden Degarmo.

Jana Brown
Services for Jana Lynn Brown, 42, Payne Springs, will be held at 1 p.m. Sunday, July 18, 2010, at the Sinner’s Hope Baptist Church in Payne Springs with the Rev. Tommy Merchant officiating under the direction of Eubank Cedar Creek Funeral Home in Mabank.
Brown was born May 17, 1968, in Dallas and died June 27, 2010, in Payne Springs.
She was preceded in death by her parents.
Survivors include her husband, James Brown, Payne Springs; son Brandon Black, Payne Springs; daughter Chelsea Abrahamson, Payne Springs; brother Joel Black and wife Carrie, Payne Springs; sister Pam Lasater and husband Bobby, Seven Points.