Bessie Leora (Hollabaugh) Hobbs
September 25, 1904 - December 6, 1987

Services for Bessiie Leora Hobbs, 83, formerly of Vera, Texas were on Wed at 10 a m , on December 9, 1987 at Vera United Methodist Church with Rev. Douglas Crow, retired Baptist minister, officiating. Burial was in the Vera Cemetery under the direction of Archer Funeral Home, Seymour, TX. Bessie had been a member of the Vera United Methodist Church since 1917 when her family moved to Vera.

Bessie had lived in Vera on her parent's farm since 1936 where she raised her children in a small house located near her parent's home. She moved to Midland, Texas in about 1955 to live near her adult children. Her children purchased her a mobile home when she moved to Midland. She was content and happy living in the mobile home park. She worked at a cafeteria in Midland until she retired. She was an excellent seamstress. She also loved to crochet. She could make the best red eye gravy and biscuits when she cooked ham. Of course, the ham came from hogs raised and slaughtered on the farm which made it extra good. In later years, Bessie's health declined to where she did not need to live alone. In 1984, she moved from Midland, Texas to Booker, Texas, and lived with her daughter, Peggy. She died in a local nursing home in Booker.

Survivors include three daughters; Doris Stewart (Ray) and Jewel Murphree (Carroll), both of Midland and Peggy Lee (Randall) of Booker; one son, Leon Hobbs (Shirley) of Jal, N.M.; two sisters, Tessie (Oliver)! Actkinson of Arlington, Texas, and Lois Robertson of Duncanville, Texas; two brother in laws; Pat Taylor of Goree, Texas and Alvin Irby of Wichita Falls, Texas; one sister-in-law, Lera Hollabaugh of Arlington. 12 grandchildren; and 22 great grand children ; many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents; John and Isabel Hollabaugh; one sister, Juanita Irby and son-in-law, Billy Bob Shipman.

Bessie was born September 25, 1904 in Mitchell County, Texas. She was the second of six children born to John and Isabel McBrayer Hollabaugh. She had four sisters: Tessie (1901), Lillie(1907), Juanita(1909) and Lois(1914: )and one brother, Fred (1910). The family lived in Mountain Peak, Ellis County, Texas.until 1917. Bessie was age 13 when the Hollabaugh family moved to Vera, Knox County, Texas. Oscar Hollabaugh owned a 160 acre farm which had a house and barn on it. He offered to sell the farm to his brother, John; and allowed them to live on the land while farming the cotton farm. They paid him for the farm with their crop money each year. The family moved from Mountain Peak to Vera in a caravan of three covered wagons. A cousin and his family were in one wagon. The Hollabaugh's were in the other two.

John drove one covered wagon with Bessie helping him. Juanita and Fred were with them. Isabel drove the other wagon with Tessie helping her. Lillie and Lois were with them. It took them 14 days to arrive at Munday, Texas which was in Knox County. They still had 20 more miles to travel to reach the farm in Vera. The children worked hard on the farm. They were always late starting to school as they had to pick cotton. Vera kids had a little saying that was Tessie, Bessie, Lillie Odessa and the rest of the little Hollabaughs. They would chat this while playing jump rope at school. It was important to John that each one of his children graduate from high school which had eleven grades at that time. A lot of children were not so fortunate at getting to graduate. Lots had to quit school and work to help their families make it. Vera did have a more sophisticated school system than Mountain Peak had. Bessie was Valedictorian of her 1922 (?) Vera High School class. Her dream was to be a nurse, but there was just no way financially for that to be. Her life could have been much easier if she could have fulfilled that dream.

Bessie married Guss Howard Hobbs in 1924. He was a local guy who seemed to be a good man, but that soon changed. His sweet mother died from heart failure at age 41 the same year Bessie and Guss married. Bessie helped to care for Guss' youngest brother, Hubert. He is seen in several old family pictures. Bessie and Guss had four children. Doris Wynell was born Dec 17, 1925. Peggy Joyce was born Feb 20, 1928, Gussie Leon was born March 8, 1930 and Jewel Isabel was born August 1, 1935. Jewel was about six months old when Guss deserted his family in 1936 after twelve years of a stormy marriage. He had left several times before that, but would return. My mother, Lois, was Bessie's youngest sister. She told me Guss was addicted to gambling and drinking. Sometimes, this meant not enough food for his family to eat. One time they were eating when a person came and took their table away. He had lost it in a gambling bet. He was a charmer in the way he could make people believe everything he said was true. My mother said he came across to most people as a very nice person. He hurt his family terribly when he deserted them. He also had already hurt them just the way he lived his life. Aunt Bessie and her children lived in a small house on the Hollabaugh farm after Guss deserted them. Grandpa Hollabaugh tried to get Aunt Bessie to divorce Guss, but she never did. She worked very hard on the farm to support her children. She also worked in the school cafeteria at the Vera School and other jobs. Later in Doris' (oldest child) adult life, she hired someone to search for Guss. They found where he was living. She went to where he lived, and she recognized him standing outside. She decided he was not worth talking to, though. Her intentions had been to confront him, but she just left. They did hear later he had died. Guss also married another lady in Tenn. soon after deserting Bessie, and had four more children, three sons and one daughter. The daughter contacted Bessie's children when she was an adult. She told them Guss deserted them, also. My cousins chose not to meet Guss' second family. He had become just a man to them, and they did not wish any contact with strangers just because they shared the same man as a father.

Today, we know Guss served in the US Navy during WW 11. Thanks to the internet, Ancestry and Find A Grave, we know he is buried in a church cemetery in Georgia. He died May 10, 1978. Times were so different in 1936 than they are today. You have to wonder though how a man could just walk off and leave his family, plus marry another lady, have four more children just to leave them. Only a sorry person would do what Guss did. It was not a matter of him feeling like a failure from not enough money to support his family. He loved gambling more than his wife and children. His behavior was not Bessie's fault. She just made a bad choice when she married him. His father and several siblings lived nearby in Knox City, Knox County, but none of them would help Bessie. My Grandpa felt sure they knew where Guss was all those years. That is sad they enabled him. The good thing though is all four of Bessie's children lived long lives with families of their own. There was lots of hurts Guss did though that they never forgot. It was hard for them not to feel hate for him. They were blessed our grandparents were able to be there for them. Grandpa was hard on them, but he meant well. Their mother had to work very hard which effected her health. They held that against Guss. They always tried to see their mother was cared for especially as she grew older. Guss was just a person who did not care. How sad as that made him the loser when it could have been just the opposite. There will always be people like that in the world. My Aunt Bessie was a hard worker, loving and caring to her children. She is remembered with love. A special memory I have is her bring Jewel and I bubble gum after she had been to the store. That was my first time to chew bubble gum.

Lovingly done for Aunt Bessie by her niece, Judy Evans #49706236, August 26, 2023.