Claude Lee Monk

Claude Lee Monk, formerly of Tehuacana, passed away Dec. 25 in Schulenburg at the age of 100.

Visitation with the family will be 4 to 6 p.m., Thursday, Dec, 28 at Blair-Stubbs Funeral Home. Funeral services will be 2 p.m., Friday, Dec. 29, in the Tehuacana Methodist Church. Interment will follow in the Oakwood Cemetery in Corsicana.

Monk was born May 26, 1923, in Freestone County. His parents were John Wesley and Ruby Watson Monk. His father died when he was about 3, leaving his mother with three children and expecting the fourth. She had no way to support her family. This was during the Depression and work was hard to come by.

Claude and his younger brother were admitted to the Corsicana State Orphans Home in 1929. His two sisters could not be admitted as Mamie, the oldest, was handicapped and Ruby Maude, the youngest, was a baby. Ruby Maude was later admitted in 1931. Tragically Claude’s brother, J. W., died in 1934 from accidental drowning while at the orphanage, and he is buried in the Oakwood Cemetery in Corsicana.

Claude worked at all sorts of odd jobs at the orphanage, mostly on the orphanage farm until he was old enough for sports.

In 1942, he graduated from the Corsicana State Orphan’s Home High School. After graduation, he joined the Army Air Corps where he was a radio/gunner aboard a B-24 Bomber named “Shoe Shoe Baby.” His crew flew 30 missions out of England, over Germany and France, Jimmy Steward, the actor, was his commanding officer. After he received his Honorable Discharge, he, by then, had already married Macie Sutton, who had also grown up in the State orphan’s home. They went on to have five children, Richard (Dick), Jimmy (deceased), Charlotte, John, and Bill. Jimmy died when he was about 6 of an illness.

After he was discharged from the service, Monk enrolled in the Southwest Texas State Teachers College, now Texas State University, in San Marcos, and received a BS degree in Agriculture. He did this while married with three young children. He went on to work for and eventually retired from the USDA Soil Conservation Service. Over the years, he served in Victoria, Giddings, Centerville, and Livingston.

He spent the rest of his life farming in Tehuacana, serving the Lord and his church, playing 42, raising hay, a huge vegetable garden, and giving back to the community in a multitude of ways. He served in the local Lions Club, the Mason’s, Mayor of Tehuacana, and the volunteer fire department.

Claude was married to Macie Monk for 33 years, Juanita McCarley for 20 years, and Mildred Cotton for almost 18 years, at the time of her death.

He has 14 grandchildren, 33 great-grandchildren, and two great-great-grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to the Corsicana State Home Ex-Students Alumni Association, C/O Lynn Taylor, 500 Energy Way, Apt. 3212, Fort Worth, TX 76102.Please visit www. blair-stubbs.com to leave the family a message of condolence or sign the guestbook.