Edna Merle Leach

Edna Merle Leach, of Groesbeck, passed away Tuesday, March 8, 2011, at Scott and White Hospital in Temple, after suffering a stroke in the past week. She was 88. Visitation will be Friday, March 11, 2011, from 6:00 to 8:00 P.M., at the Groesbeck Funeral Home. Services will be held at at 1:00 P.M. on Saturday, March 12, 2011, at the Groesbeck Funeral Home Chapel, with Brother Richard Williams officiating. Burial will follow at Hogan Cemetery. Pallbearers will be Lee Turrubiarte, David Turrubiarte, Eric Turrubiarte, Dale Wilson, Rand Bates, and Billy Floyd Wilson. Honorary Pallbearers are Joe Durham and Gerald Gibson. Merle was born on May 8, 1922, to Henry Francis Wilson and Sarah E. Cunningham Wilson in the Box Church community of Limestone County. After losing her mother when she was only 6, she was raised by her sisters. She graduated from Kosse High School in 1939, and moved to South Texas to live with a sister and work. During World War II, she worked as a welder at Dixon Gun Plant in Houston, and wrote letters to her high school friend, Rex W. Leach, while he was serving in the Army. After the war, when Rex was discharged, they were united in marriage on September 2, 1945, and made their home in Houston. She was a mother and homemaker in Houston, until Rex retired. They then moved to the Twin Bridges area near Groesbeck in 1980. Living in the country, they raised a large garden as long as health permitted, and she cooked and canned the produce. She was a great cook, and especially liked to prepare the favorite dish for each family member when they were at her home. She was also an excellent seamstress, and always looked perfectly groomed. Merle was always very interested in her large extended family, and stayed in touch with them until the end of her life. She also regularly visited friends and family in the local nursing homes, and never lost her desire and determination to live independently in her own home. For the past year, she had enjoyed daily trips to the Senior Citizens for lunch and visiting, most of the time riding with her neighbor and friend, Joe Durham. She was a faithful member of the Church of Christ in Groesbeck, and formerly in Houston, and an encouragement to all in her attendance. Mrs. Leach was preceded in death by her parents; her granddaughter, Ginger Oliphant in 1986; her husband, Rex in 2001; and all her brothers, and sisters, except one, including her brother, Ken Wilson, also from Groesbeck, in 2009. She is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Roma and Roger Dupree of Covington, Georgia; her son and daughter-in-law, Rex Neil Leach and wife Donna of McAllen; granddaughter, Katie and her husband, Marlon McCormick of Kyle; granddaughter, Sarah and her husband Patrick DuPree of Dallas; granddaughter, Candis and her husband Craig Gould of Dumfries, Virginia; granddaughter, Christie and her husband Phillip Dearth of Austin; granddaughter, Angel and her husband Shaun Mitchell of San Antonio; grandson, Brent Dupree of Covington, Georgia; great grandchildren, Lily McCormick of Kyle, Sophia Rahmani of Austin, Garrick DuPree of Dallas; and a sister, Edith Oates of Conroe.