Bobbie Jean Marsh Stalnaker

Bobbie Jean Marsh Stalnaker, 88, of Orange, Texas, passed away on March 4, 2019, in Beaumont, Texas.

Funeral services will be held at 11:00 a.m., Thursday, March 7, 2019, at Claybar Funeral Home in Orange, Texas. Officiating will be Pastor Amy Walker and Pastor John Warren. Burial will follow at Orange Forest Lawn Memorial Park.

Visitation will be prior to the service beginning at 10:00 a.m.

Bobbie Jean Marsh Stalnaker was born on October 4, 1930 to Ralph Clyde and Jewell B. Marsh in Orange, Texas, the third of three girls. She attended school in Orange and graduated as valedictorian from Lutcher Stark High School in 1947. She later attended what is now Texas A&M University Corpus Christi and graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor’s Degree in Secondary Education. Bobbie taught seventh and eighth grade Reading and Social Studies in Portland, Texas, where she served as Chairman of the Reading Department.

She and husband Robert R. Stalnaker, Jr. graduated from high school together in Orange moved from Portland to Corpus Christi in 1992 following his retirement from DuPont. In Corpus Christi, Bobbie became involved in activities of American Association of University Women, First United Methodist Church, and delegate to Annual Conference. She worked weekly at the church’s prescription assistance program, other benevolent church projects, teaching women’s groups, and in sewing activities that benefited the community. Sewing became her real love and she made many creative garments. She also enjoyed playing bridge and traveling, which the couple did extensively, including living in Europe for three months.

Upon returning to Orange in 2012, she and her husband settled in Mauriceville and became members of First United Methodist there although she had worked as a part-time secretary for several year at First United Methodist in Orange before moving away. Bobbie loved her family dearly and will be missed by all who knew and loved her.

She was preceded in death by her parents, R. Clyde and Jewell Marsh; and sisters, Lucille Rowe and Mavis McClure.

Bobbie is survived by her loving husband, Robert R. Stalnaker, Jr.; children, Marsha Martin, of Orange, TX, Robert Charles Stalnaker and wife Sherry, of Orange, TX, and Beth Ann Gray and husband George, of Waco, TX; grandchildren, Traci Pigott and husband Tim, of Augusta, GA, R.C. Stalnaker, Jr. and wife Sarah, of Katy, TX, April Morton and husband Craig, of Lake Charles, LA, Amy Walker and husband Jeff, of Orange, TX, Angela Oliver and husband Hunter, of Washington, DC, and Christina Gray, of Waco, TX; 15 great-grandchildren; 1 great-great-grandchild; and her nephew, Ronnie McClure, of Dallas, TX.

Serving as pallbearers will be R.C. Stalnaker, Jr., Craig Morton, Jeff Walker, Ronnie McClure, James Van Pelt, Mack Koonce, and Carey Mitchell. Honorary pallbearers are Tim Pigott and Hunter Oliver.