Ruben David Fletes

Ruben David Fletes of Kemp, passed away away peacefully on April 15, 2023, in Dallas. Ruben was born Aug. 5, 1938, in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. He was preceded in death by his parents, Ernesto and Juanita Fletes; his wife of 61 years, Leska Mae Holloway Fletes; his daughter, Teresa Murray Heilig; brothers, Ernest, Charles and Joe Fletes; and his sister, Gloria Fletes Gonzalez.

Ruben is survived by his children: James (Nicky) Murray and his wife Martina, Charlsie Fletes Crow and spouse Bobby, Maeleska Fletes and spouse Nick Shannon, Deena Fletes Powell and spouse Steve, Gino Fletes and wife Candance, Josh Fletes, Indya Fletes and fiancée John Prater, and Sierra Fletes and fiancée Mitch Cook. Ruben had 11 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. He is also survived by his brothers, Jim Fletes and Bill Fletes, and sisters, Juanita and Annie.

Our dad will be missed greatly by all of those who knew him and especially by those who loved him. To many he was the surveyor who traveled all over Texas following the work, he was even elected as a county surveyor. He was the man who wanted to know where you were from. Many times, he knew the area and would even mention names of people from the area that he had worked for. He was the man who couldn’t pass up a good garage sale, a pawn shop or the Goodwill without stopping in. He loved a good deal and didn’t mind haggling for it. He was the man that shot a good game of pool and many times won tournaments for money to support this big family.

To us kids he was all those things and so much more. Dad loved kids, as evident by the number he raised whether it was through adoption, fostering or a cousin staying for a while. He was the one that could come up with a game off the fly. Kids loved being around Dad because he would just make up a game for us all to play or he would tell a story that you just hung on to each word because you never knew where it was going or if it was true or not. He would dig in his pocket for change to buy sweets. He would build scooters for everyone and buy minibikes that more than one of us crashed on. He was the man that had us all load up in the truck to help with a survey and he would roll down the windows and say it’s to get “climatized.” It was counting out the right number of stakes or watching Dad rearrange the equipment in the truck. It was him waking us up in time to catch the church bus on Sundays and who made the charts everywhere with chores listed by our names. I can see him so clearly sitting on the couch drinking coffee and rubbing his belly and then running his hand through his hair. As kids’ Dad bought a bus that served two purposes: one to take little road trips in and the main one was to use it for big survey jobs. But for us kids it was the best thing ever. That old bus held great memories of Dad yelling out “all aboard” as we took off and of him telling us to cheer that bus on going up hills so slowly that he had to move to the side for passing cars. And I believe the best memory of that bus was taking it up Queen Wilhelmina State Park and then Dad worried that the brakes weren’t going to last to get down the mountain.

After Dad became paralyzed, he could have simply quit, just retired but this was not his nature, it was not what had driven him all these years. He rose to the challenge and continued to work until he was hospitalized June of last year. He continued to hit the thrift markets and had his dream come true of a continuous yard sale. And really hit the jackpot when he found people selling items over a local radio station. Oh, the things he would buy. You just can’t keep a hustler down. I believe what will be most missed was having those long talks with him. Dad was a master conversationalist whether it was general conversation or if it was a debate, which usually he would call with the intent of provoking you into a right and wrong side of something. We all will miss you dearly dad. Thank you for being a safe harbor to your children. We Love you Dad Funeral was at 11 a.m. Wednesday, April 19, at Max Slayton Funeral Chapel with his family receiving friends beginning at 10 a.m. to service time. Burial was at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Sardis Cemetery, 6101 Honeysuckle Road, Midlothian. Condolences and memories may be shared with his family at www.maxslaytonfunerals. com.