Clarabelle Snodgrass

The Queen of Kerr County History now resides in the Kingdom of Heaven, having departed Monday, Feb. 29, 2016, from her home in Kerrville, Texas. \r\n\r\nBorn Oct. 13, 1913, in Kerrville, in the vicinity of the Notre Dame Catholic School playground 102 years ago, she truly experienced the "American Dream." Her parents were Henry Dutton Taylor Barton and Anna Adelia Gibbens Barton. She is a fifth-generation native of Kerr County, having lived on the farm of her parents in the Turtle Creek Community. \r\n\r\nShe attended Notre Dame Catholic School, Turtle Creek School (which her grandfather was instrumental in organizing and building), Schofield School for Girls and Tivy High School, graduating in 1930. Being the oldest living Tivy graduate - and loving parades - it thrilled her to have participated in the Tivy Homecoming parades for the past three years. \r\n\r\nShe pursued with gusto her passion for local history. She joined the Kerr County Historical Commission in 1977. As editor of the Kerr County Album in 1987, she was well on her way to filling her amazing memory bank with local history. She was well known throughout the area and active in many organizations. \r\n\r\nBetween 1987 and 2014, she authored "Kerr County Historical Markers and a Bit More," "The Last Bale of Hay" and "Poems and Then Some." Since December 2011, she shared memories of her ancestral past each month in The Hill Country Community Journal newspaper in her popular column, "Clarabelle's Moments and Memories." In fact, while she was still alive and hearing, her friend read to her her last column, "Texas Dustbowl Years."\r\n\r\nIn 2011, she and her husband, Ross, won a contest for having been the longest married couple in the State of Texas, 77 1/2 years. They married July 1, 1933. \r\n\r\nShe is survived by their daughter, Jeri C. Snodgrass, and their son, David D. Snodgrass (wife, Naazbaa). Grandchildren are Shelby Smith (wife, Sharmayne), Cody Smith, Dena Anderson (husband, Chris) and Davin Snodgrass. Ten great-grandchildren also survive. \r\n\r\nHer funeral service will be at 2 p.m. Saturday, March 5, 2016, at Grimes Funeral Chapels, 728 Jefferson St., Kerrville, Texas, with interment at Garden of Memories. \r\n\r\nIn lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Kerr County Historical Commission, United Daughters of the Confederacy or Western Hills Baptist Church. \r\n