Iva Land

Iva R. Land, of Groesbeck, passed away Thursday, May 19, 2011, at the Windsor Healthcare Residence in Groesbeck, at age 100. Funeral Services will be held at 1:00 P.M. on Saturday, May 21, 2011, at the Groesbeck Funeral Home Chapel, with Reverend Tracy Sims officiating, and followed by interment at Faulkenberry Cemetery. Iva R. Land was born on July 1, 1910, the fifth child of Frank Redden Richardson and Jane Smith Richardson in the Limestone County community of Mesquite. Iva accepted Christ as her Savior in 1921, at 11 years of age, in the Old Methodist Church in Groesbeck. She remembered being baptized in an old, big, wooden church building in Groesbeck. She graduated from high school in Groesbeck in 1927, and attended 2 years at Southwest Teacher’s College in San Marcos, and received a permanent Teacher Certification. Iva married W. A. (Jack) Land of Mexia on October 20, 1929 at Henrietta, Oklahoma (the County Seat of Love County, OK). No children were born to this couple. Iva later graduated from Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas with a Bachelor of Arts Degree. She taught one year in Little Flower Catholic School in Port Acres; then taught twelve years in East Chambers Elementary School in Winnie; and then moved to Groesbeck in 1973. Mrs. Land was a retired school teacher, and a member of the Cynthia Ann Garden Club of Groesbeck. When she moved to Groesbeck, Iva immediately entered the fellowship of First Baptist Church of Groesbeck. She had been an active member of the First Baptist Church of Groesbeck since 1973, serving as an Adult Sunday School teacher and an active worker in the Baptist Women’s Organization. She was a member and past president of WMU. Mrs. Land lived the past six years at Windsor Healthcare Residence in Groesbeck. She would have been 101 years old in July. She was honored on her 100th. birthday last July, with a party at Windsor, with many of her family present. Earlier in her life, Mrs. Land left written instructions for her funeral arrangements, and some notes on her Bible studies and favorite scriptures. She included this verse to be read at her funeral, which spoke for her faith during her long life: “As for me, I will behold Thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness.” (Psalm 17:15). Iva was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, W. A. Land; and her sisters, Mary E. Sanders, Sarah Ann Hines, Cora Jane McCollum, and Alta Ruth Woodside. She is survived by nieces and nephews: Bobbie Farris and husband Vernie L. Farris of McGregor; Leatrice Ypez; Charles Sanders of Albuquerque, New Mexico; Carl Sanders and wife Elizabeth of Fort Worth; Louise Harris of Saucier, Mississippi; Macie Kennedy of Timberon, NM; J. D. Hines and wife Avonea of Tyler; Dorothy Pearson (whom she loved like a niece) of Garland; and many great nieces and nephews.