Ethel Hooten (Tulia)

Tulia, Texas— Services for Ethel Lauretta Christian Hooten will be held on Friday, August 16, 2013 at 10:00 am at the First Baptist Church in Tulia with the Rev. Mel Hooten and Rev. Jason Stone, pastor of First Baptist Church, officiating. Burial will follow in Rose Hill Cemetery under the care of Kornerstone Funeral Directors of Tulia. Ethel was born April 27, 1915 in Tulia. She passed away August 13, 2013 in Odyssey Hospice of Amarillo. She was a resident of Perryton, Texas at the time of her death. Ethel married Doyle Franklin Hooten on March 28, 1936. She was employed by Swisher County Electric Cooperative, was a member of the Order of the Eastern Star, Daughters of the Pioneers, Daughters of the American Revolution and Daughters of the Texas Republic. She was baptized in First Baptist Church of Happy at the same time as her oldest son. She was a long-standing member of First Baptist Church of Tulia. Ethel as an avid reader, she was a productive artist working in mediums of oil and water color. She continued her artistic career until she began losing her eyesight. She was an author and fulfilled a lifelong dream, when at the age of 98 she published her first novel, Dirt Roads and Muddy Streets. In 2008 she wrote a short story entitled Flip Flop. Other stories written by Ethel are included in The Noble Generation, Volume II and Cow Chips in the Cook Stove, a history of the lower Texas Panhandle. She was computer literate and kept up with the latest technology including the use of cell phones and Kindle. She was preceded in death by her husband, Doyle Hooten on Nov. 14, 2002. Also preceding her in death are a brother, Charlie Christian and sister, Frankie Von Blomberg, and a great granddaughter, Emma Cate Smitherman. Surviving her are two sons, Donald B. Hooten and wife Barbara of Perryton and Melvin R. Hooten and wife Karen of Aubrey, TX. Surviving her also are eight grandchildren, LaDonna Morgan, Becky Thomas, Timothy Hooten, Scott Hooten, Sandra Hooten, Charles Ruff, Amy Smitherman, Sarah Clymer and additional family in New Mexico. There are 14 surviving great grandchildren and three great, great grandchildren and many nieces and nephews and a host of friends. A visitation for family and friends will be held Thursday, August 15, 2013 from 6:00 to 8:00 pm at the funeral home, 201 W. Broadway in Tulia. Memorials may be given to the First Baptist Church, 101 N. Crosby, Tulia, Texas 79088.