Albert Morris Outlaw

Albert Morris Outlaw, of Groesbeck, passed away Friday, April 12, 2013, at the Limestone Medical Center. He was 96. Visitation will be Monday, April 15, 2013, from 6:00 to 8:00 P.M., at the Groesbeck Funeral Home. Funeral services will be held at 2:00 P.M. on Tuesday, April 16, 2013, at the Groesbeck Funeral Home Chapel, with Brother Richard Williams of the Church of Christ officiating. He will be interred in Fort Parker Memorial Park with full military honors. Pallbearers will be Craig Boothe, Clint David, Michael David, George Keith, Mike Sams, and Mark Flores. Morris was born March 20, 1917 to William Dosey Outlaw and Nancy Ellen (O’Neil) Outlaw in the Prairie Point Community, where he grew up on a share-crop farm, and attended school. He joined the U. S. Army Air Corp in 1942, during World War II. Morris was in the Air Force for over twenty-two years, serving during World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. Morris had a natural talent and developed the mechanical skills that allowed him to not only fly as a gunner, but he worked on B-17’s and B-29’s, and become flight line chief supervising the mechanics and being responsible for getting planes off the ground. When WWII ended, he was flying rescue missions. During Vietnam, he worked on F-4’s; although he was not allowed to be sent to Vietnam as his son Richard was serving there. He traveled all over the world while in the military, and supervised the personnel on each new aircraft that was developed. While stationed in San Angelo, Morris met and married Ruby Lee Bryson, in 1944. While he was stationed all over the world during his career, Ruby and their three children were able to join him on three separate tours of Okinawa. Morris became a widower when Ruby Lee passed away in 1973. After retiring from the military, Morris attended the Police Academy in Waco. He then worked as a security officer to put himself through horticultural school, and he also opened his own greenhouse in Waco. Morris married Dorothy Nell Cates Tompkins in 1975 and they lived in Groesbeck, where he opened Outlaw’s Greenhouse. In addition to their hard work in the greenhouse, they loved to travel, making trips all over the country. They especially loved visiting the Hill Country in Texas and seeing and feeding the deer. They also enjoyed going to cemeteries to find where their ancestors were buried. Morris was a man with “perfect memory” of all details of people, pets, and places from childhood throughout his life. He was also a great teller of his life’s stories and recorded much history on tapes. He loved going to Groesbeck’s high school football games, holding season tickets until his eyesight failed. Earlier in his life he had learned from an elderly man in Groesbeck how to play the harmonica and sing the blues, and he would often entertain himself with songs he made up. He became a widower again, when his wife Dorothy passed away in 2007. He remained busy, always tinkering or working in his yard, and lived by himself until he was 92. He moved in with his son and daughter-in-law where he lived the past four years. Morris was preceded in death by his parents; his two wives, Ruby Lee Bryson Outlaw and Dorothy Cates Outlaw; son-in-law, Jeffrey Langley; and all five of his brothers and three sisters and their spouses, leaving him to be the last survivor. He is survived by his son and daughter-in-law, Richard and Sondra Outlaw of Groesbeck; daughter and son-in-law, Cathy (Outlaw) and Danny McCorkle of Waco; daughter and son-in-law, Ann (Outlaw) and Ron Garrett of Lake Limestone; daughter and son-in-law, Deborah (Tompkins) and Bobby Wilson of Groesbeck; daughter, Kimberly (Tompkins) Langley of Groesbeck; eleven grandchildren; and twenty-one great grandchildren.