Wallace Keith Gorman

Walllace Keith Gorman, of Groesbeck, passed away at Providence Hospital in Waco on Thursday, March 28, 2019, at age 92.

Visitation will be begin at 11:00 A.M. on Sunday, April 7, 2019 in the Groesbeck Funeral Home Chapel, prior to the funeral.

Funeral services will be held at 1:00 P.M. on Sunday in the Chapel at Groesbeck Funeral Home, with Harley B. Gordon, with the Beacon Hill Baptist Church,  officiating.  Burial will follow in the Lenamon Family Cemetery near Groesbeck.

Pallbearers will be Kolton Gorman Batey, Lindsey Beasley, Randy Martin, Gene Dusek, Mike McLelland and Lee McLelland . 

Wallace was born in rural Limestone County to William Gorman and Ittie Inez Lenamon on July 26, 1926.    Growing up, he attended school at Box Church and graduated from Groesbeck High School when he was 16.

Wallace joined the U.S. Air Force, where he was an airplane mechanic.   During his service he was in the Phillipines, and he saw the take-off of the historic Anola Gay plane.  After he was honorably discharged he took accounting classes in Houston.   

While living in Houston, Wallace met Ruby J. Ayles and they were united in marriage on June 24, 1948.    They lived in Houston where he worked most of his career as an accountant for WKM Company.   Wallace always had other side jobs, such as selling real estate, taxidermy, and building wire cages for pet shops. 

In 2004, Wallace and Ruby moved back to his hometown of Groesbeck.   His memory was good of his youth in Groesbeck, and he could tell his family who had lived in which house.  He continued to take orders and build deer traps and wire cages for rabbits, monkeys and birds at a shop behind his home, and he made weekly trips to Houston to deliver the cages and traps for many years. 

Wallace was known as Poppy or Pop by his grandchildren and great grandchildren.  He was loved by his cousins and families growing up in the Box Church & Groesbeck area. He was a second father to his nieces and a true head of the family. He took care of and watched over others.  Mamaw will tell you he never smoked, drank, cussed or yelled!  She said she will keep him.  He watched over Mamaw (Ruby Jane) until the end. He always checked to see if Angie and Kolton and London were ok. He always made them laugh; he always had something funny to say. He handled things thru tough times and kept going. He could barely walk towards the end, but always got up. Such determination and never a quitter. 

Wallace and Ruby had a tragic experience in 2012 in losing their only son, William Kenneth Gorman,  in a vehicle accident, as they were all returning home from cleaning the Lenamon Cemetery.    He was also preceded in death by his parents and an infant brother.

He is survived by his wife of seventy years, Ruby Gorman, now living in Waco; granddaughter, Angie K. Gorman of Waco; great grandson, Kolton W. Gorman Batey of Castle Rock, Colorado; great granddaughter, London N. Gorman of Waco; and many other family and friends.