Obituary for Irma Custer
Irma Custer, age 95, passed from this life on May 28, 2019.
Funeral services will be held at 10 AM on Friday, May 31, 2019 at the First United Methodist Church with Dr. Mike Henderson, officiating, and Rev. Lou Ellerbrook, Pastor, assisting. Burial will follow in Childress Cemetery under the direction of Johnson Funeral Home.
Visitation will be held from 6 to 7 PM on Thursday, May 30, 2019 at Johnson Funeral Home.
Irma was born on March 5, 1924 in Childress to Lewis and Zola (Huckabey) Nichols. She lived all of her life in Childress, and her home is one of the older homes in Childress and was built in 1909 by a pioneer family, restored and furnished throughout with heirlooms and antiques that she and her husband treasured. She even opened her home up to the Christmas holiday open house in 1989 and residents were able to tour their home. A hard worker, she worked for many years for Lone Star Gas and eventually ended up working for Southwestern Bell Telephone Company for twenty-two years until her retirement. After that, she served as Director of the Senior Citizens Center and then later worked for four years for the Department of Health.
Irma was well-known in Childress for her willingness to serve, and was an active participant in many happenings in Childress. She served as director of Childress Old Settlers Association and helped plan many of their annual celebrations, was on the Planning Committee for the School Reunion as well as the Childress Centennial Celebration Committee, and was a member of the Business Women's Club, Childress Public Library, and the Childress Development Association. She was also a longtime member of the American Legion Auxiliary and the Veterans of Foreign War Auxiliary, was a member of the Board of Directors for the Childress County Heritage Museum and the Texas Historical Commission and the Childress County Chapter of the American Red Cross. She was also instrumental in the creation, research, design and completion of the Childress Cemetery Veterans Memorial, and was one of the people who helped a great deal with the cemetery books to help create a record of headstones and burials that were older and their locations had not been recorded properly. With the help of Mike Hughes' cemetery Headstone Book, she went through and located each grave by section, block/lot and grave numbers and then used the information to collaborate with Chris Tipa and Richard Chambless to create and complete the new map of the cemetery.
Irma loved helping people, and her examples of volunteerism was a constant in the community. In addition to all of the boards she served on and offices she held, she also was a Red Cross volunteer for many years before becoming their Chairman of Volunteers. She helped with their services before the chapter became part of the Red River Regional Blood Center in 1964 and dedicated herself to their work here year after year, assisting in every fund drive the chapter held for many years and co-chaired two campaigns.
Irma also loved to have fun and make people laugh and enjoy themselves. She and her husband, Robert, were members of the Circle C Square Dance Club and they helped sponsor the Womanless Wedding. When the Red Cross Centennial Celebration was held in 1981, Irma dressed in 1880's fashion when the Traveling Road Show was held at the auditorium. Despite all of the time that she spent involved with community and family projects, she still found the time and energy to help with the youth in the community and served as a clerical volunteer at Childress Elementary School. She also loved to crochet, knit, do needlepoint, and loved to go walking and riding bicycles.
Irma was honored twice as Woman of the Year by the Childress Chamber of Commerce, as Employee of the Year by the Childress Rotary Club in a prior year, and received the Lifetime Achievement Award in 1989.
She was preceded in death by her parents, husband Robert Custer, and siblings Pete Nichols, R.C. Nichols, Sonny Nichols, LaVerne Watkins, and Georgia Bowman.
Survivors include two sons, Doug Custer and wife Teresa of Lincoln, NE, and Nichols Custer and wife Monica of Childress; one granddaughter, Lindsey Keys and husband Justin of Childress; three great-grandchildren, Addilyn Keys, Custer Keys and Crewz Keys of Childress; one sister, Myrl Burchett of Childress; and numerous nieces, nephews, extended family and friends.
The family has requested memorial contributions be made to CRMC Hospice, PO Box 1030, Childress, TX 79201.03/05/1924
Funeral services will be held at 10 AM on Friday, May 31, 2019 at the First United Methodist Church with Dr. Mike Henderson, officiating, and Rev. Lou Ellerbrook, Pastor, assisting. Burial will follow in Childress Cemetery under the direction of Johnson Funeral Home.
Visitation will be held from 6 to 7 PM on Thursday, May 30, 2019 at Johnson Funeral Home.
Irma was born on March 5, 1924 in Childress to Lewis and Zola (Huckabey) Nichols. She lived all of her life in Childress, and her home is one of the older homes in Childress and was built in 1909 by a pioneer family, restored and furnished throughout with heirlooms and antiques that she and her husband treasured. She even opened her home up to the Christmas holiday open house in 1989 and residents were able to tour their home. A hard worker, she worked for many years for Lone Star Gas and eventually ended up working for Southwestern Bell Telephone Company for twenty-two years until her retirement. After that, she served as Director of the Senior Citizens Center and then later worked for four years for the Department of Health.
Irma was well-known in Childress for her willingness to serve, and was an active participant in many happenings in Childress. She served as director of Childress Old Settlers Association and helped plan many of their annual celebrations, was on the Planning Committee for the School Reunion as well as the Childress Centennial Celebration Committee, and was a member of the Business Women's Club, Childress Public Library, and the Childress Development Association. She was also a longtime member of the American Legion Auxiliary and the Veterans of Foreign War Auxiliary, was a member of the Board of Directors for the Childress County Heritage Museum and the Texas Historical Commission and the Childress County Chapter of the American Red Cross. She was also instrumental in the creation, research, design and completion of the Childress Cemetery Veterans Memorial, and was one of the people who helped a great deal with the cemetery books to help create a record of headstones and burials that were older and their locations had not been recorded properly. With the help of Mike Hughes' cemetery Headstone Book, she went through and located each grave by section, block/lot and grave numbers and then used the information to collaborate with Chris Tipa and Richard Chambless to create and complete the new map of the cemetery.
Irma loved helping people, and her examples of volunteerism was a constant in the community. In addition to all of the boards she served on and offices she held, she also was a Red Cross volunteer for many years before becoming their Chairman of Volunteers. She helped with their services before the chapter became part of the Red River Regional Blood Center in 1964 and dedicated herself to their work here year after year, assisting in every fund drive the chapter held for many years and co-chaired two campaigns.
Irma also loved to have fun and make people laugh and enjoy themselves. She and her husband, Robert, were members of the Circle C Square Dance Club and they helped sponsor the Womanless Wedding. When the Red Cross Centennial Celebration was held in 1981, Irma dressed in 1880's fashion when the Traveling Road Show was held at the auditorium. Despite all of the time that she spent involved with community and family projects, she still found the time and energy to help with the youth in the community and served as a clerical volunteer at Childress Elementary School. She also loved to crochet, knit, do needlepoint, and loved to go walking and riding bicycles.
Irma was honored twice as Woman of the Year by the Childress Chamber of Commerce, as Employee of the Year by the Childress Rotary Club in a prior year, and received the Lifetime Achievement Award in 1989.
She was preceded in death by her parents, husband Robert Custer, and siblings Pete Nichols, R.C. Nichols, Sonny Nichols, LaVerne Watkins, and Georgia Bowman.
Survivors include two sons, Doug Custer and wife Teresa of Lincoln, NE, and Nichols Custer and wife Monica of Childress; one granddaughter, Lindsey Keys and husband Justin of Childress; three great-grandchildren, Addilyn Keys, Custer Keys and Crewz Keys of Childress; one sister, Myrl Burchett of Childress; and numerous nieces, nephews, extended family and friends.
The family has requested memorial contributions be made to CRMC Hospice, PO Box 1030, Childress, TX 79201.03/05/1924