Obituary

Longtime Plainview resident Opal J. Strother, 91, died Saturday, Sept. 10 in Odessa. The family will welcome friends from 5-8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 15 at Acres West Funeral Home in Odessa. They also will host a visitation from 6-9 p.m. Friday, Sept. 16 at Garland Street Church of Christ in Plainview. Graveside services will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday at Plainview Cemetery. She also will be remembered at a memorial service at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Ovilla (Texas) Church of Christ. Born March 31, 1920, in Kress, she was the youngest daughter of Willie G. and Lavica Beck Botts. Mrs. Strother attended schools in Kress and Plainview, graduating from Plainview High School. She earned an associate's degree from Wayland Baptist College and later took courses through the American Banking Institute. Mrs. Strother worked as a bookkeeper for Shepard Chevrolet and AVC before marrying E.R. "Roe" Strother on July 22, 1951. In 1955, she was employed as a teller by City National Bank and was later one of the first drive-in tellers. She retired in 1985 as assistant vice president in charge of the bookkeeping and proof and transit departments after writing the software and overseeing her departments' conversion to computer. Mrs. Strother and her husband also owned Strother Flowers and Gifts for several years. After selling the shop, the Strothers spent most of the year in the Creede, Colo., area where she worked at Blue Creek Lodge while she and her husband served Creede Church of Christ. In her later years, Mrs. Strother lived with her daughters in Waxahachie and Odessa. An active member of the Business and Professional Women's Club, Mrs. Strother served in several capacities, including president of the organization. She was active in Girl Scouts, serving as a troop leader and coordinating fund-raising efforts in Plainview. Mrs. Strother also taught four- and five-year-olds in Sunday school at Garland Street Church of Christ for many years. She is survived by two daughters, Lavica Anderson and her husband, Lanny, of Odessa and Alice Lane and her husband, Larry, of Midlothian; and one son, Emery Strother Jr. and his wife, Shela, of Fort Stockton. Also surviving are her grandchildren, Charles, Henry and Steven Anderson, Jeanne, Igor and Sergei Lane, and Trey Vaughn Strother; and eight great-grandchildren. Mrs. Strother was preceded in death by her husband, parents, brothers, sisters and a niece. In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials be sent to Creede Church of Christ, P.O. Box 147, Creede, CO 81130.