Richards and friends who joined Marines together at 1953 class reunion
Richard Ray Chism, 72, of Texarkana died Wednesday, August 15, 2007,
in a Texarkana hospital. He was a native of Hope, AR born January 11,
1935, and a member of First Baptist Church in Hope.
Richard was a retired accountant and a Marine Sergeant Veteran in the
Korean Conflict. He was a member of Elks Lodge 399. Richard was
preceded in death by his parents: Richard Ervin and Kathryn Chism; also
a sister Thalia Chism Geist (HHS ‘51).
Survivors include a son and daughter-in-law, Von and Julia Chism of
Genoa, AR; a daughter, and son-law, Pam and Brad Attaway of Fouke,
AR; Grandchildren: Misty and Randy Latham of Texarkana TX; Amber
and Patrick O’Hanlon of Frankfurt, Germany; Beth Chism and Gus
Chism of Genoa, AR ; and John Attaway of Texarkana, TX, Brandon
Attaway of Conway, AR.
Great grandchildren: Haley and Karley Latham; the mother of his children
Evie Erwin; one sister Dema Burris of Tulsa, OK; James Chism of
Niceville, FL; and David Chism of Vecinza, Italy. Four special friends:
Randy Owen, Kenny Pickering, Keith Carpenter, David Carpenter of
Texarkana; and numerous other relatives and friends.
Class members will remember Richard as a football player three of his
four years at Hope High in the class of 1953. His junior year, the only
year he didn't participate in football, he was in Spanish Club, the junior
play, on the junior-senior prom program and participated in Talent Night.
Visitation was on Friday evening, August 17, 2007, at Texarkana Funeral
Home with graveside services on Saturday at Memory Gardens in Hope.
Six 1953 HHS classmates attended the graveside service on Saturday,
August 18, at Memory Gardens in Hope. They were: Roy Seymour,
Jesse Duke (and his wife Carolyn), Bobby Bruce, Bonnie S. Sinyard,
Billy Thornton and Frances S. Arnold.
The memorial service on Saturday was officiated by John Hall and
attended by other relatives and friends to pay tribute to Richard.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We invite family and friends to share short memories of Richard both
humourous and serious for expanding this page on Richard's life.
Photos of Richard at any age and photos of his family that include him
would be nice to include.
To contact Barbara or Perry for more information, please click one of
our addresses on the Home Page of this site.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
humourous and serious for expanding this page on Richard's life.
Photos of Richard at any age and photos of his family that include him
would be nice to include.
To contact Barbara or Perry for more information, please click one of
our addresses on the Home Page of this site.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://richard-chism.memory-of.com/ A memorial web site sponcered
by Pamela Attaway
by Pamela Attaway
Memories
by Clyde Arnold
I have many fond memories of Richard Ray Chism beginning during our Junior and
Senior High School years. I remember his attending Sunday School at First Baptist
Church and his singing in the Youth Choir. Many of our class were in Mr. Keith's SS
class (SOK's father who was a local barber on 3rd St.) Some of those in this class
were Richard Chism, Jack
Jones, Jerry Jones, Bert Chamberlain, Jim Yocom, Barky Fuller, John Gilbert, Bobby
Bruce, Jesse Duke, Ron Richards, Pat Mosley, and others I may have forgotten.
Mr. Keith and Horace Fuller (Barky's Dad) took us hunting and fishing as a class
several times during those years. Richard was always at church during this period of
time and sang in the Youth Choir. Our choir even won some awards at Ouachita
Baptist College in Arkadelphia singing "Go Tell It On The Mountain.” There were
many of our girls who were in the First Baptist choir then including Barbara T. Burke,
Helen Hall Harris, Jan Moses Lawson, Jacque P. Williams Rogers, the Chism sisters,
Thalia and Dema, and many more who kept us guys in tune. Richard had a great
singing voice as I remember.
Chism went out for the football team most of those years and was one of the 21
seniors that walked the ladies at HHS homecoming in 1952. Shortly after graduation
Chism, Jesse, Ellis Rothwell, and John Keck joined the U.S. Marines and got to spend
some time in Korea during that Police Action, as the Democrats called the Korean
War. It was not until about 1958 during Hope's undefeated football season that I
remember seeing Chism again. Tom Ed Hays, Bobby Bruce, Dee Coffee, Bert
Chamberlain and some others were still in the Hope area looking for work or were
back in college as I was.
Several of us went to the out-of-town football games in 1958 and even took 13 train
cars to Conway, AR to a play off game which the Bobcats won. I know Chism and I
went along on the train with most of the Hope folks.
Tom Ed, Bert C., Chism, and I also attended the Camden game that year and Richard
drove his auto there. He had plenty of refreshments for us all. I had made it through
Korea and had drunk only ONE beer! This particular night I had more than one and
got a little light headed. Everything was funny and I became more talkative. Thank
God, Chism was our driver and returned us home in one piece!
I lost contact with Chism after 1958 for many years because I went to TX to finish
college, got a job at the Post Office in Waco, married Benja, reared a family etc.
When Benja passed away on Aug. 14, 2000, I decided her final resting place would
be at Memory Gardens in Hope for the convenience of her family from TX and me.
While at the graveside service at Memory Gardens someone, who I did not know at
the time, walked up to me. Our fallen chests touched as he gave me a big Marine
bear hug. I then asked him "Who are you?"
He answered "Chism," grinned ,and stepped back. Both of us had lost some hair and
put on a few pounds. I never saw Chism after that encounter until l later took that
big picture of the whole class to his workplace (B. J. Refreshments) in Texarkana,
USA. The employees there all got a big laugh at Richard's and my pictures and how
much we had changed. You could tell that all of his fellow workers thought the world
of Chism! (You can see this class picture that Perry put on the website after lots of
work making it more viewable: http://www.hopeclassof1953.com/class_picture.html)
After several visits to B.J. Refreshments by several of us, we finally got Chism to
attend our 50th class reunion. We now have pictures of the four Marines together on
the web site. This was in 2003 the last reunion Richard attended that I remember.
With the recent passing of John Keck, there are only two marines left in the photo of
the four that are pictured on both Richard's and John's memorial pages.
Phillip Gilbert and Don Lauterback(D) joined the Marines later in 1953. Phillip still
lives in Hope.
Richard Ray Chism was a great friend and teammate and is greatly missed by all.
Clyde Arnold
May 1, 2009
by Clyde Arnold
I have many fond memories of Richard Ray Chism beginning during our Junior and
Senior High School years. I remember his attending Sunday School at First Baptist
Church and his singing in the Youth Choir. Many of our class were in Mr. Keith's SS
class (SOK's father who was a local barber on 3rd St.) Some of those in this class
were Richard Chism, Jack
Jones, Jerry Jones, Bert Chamberlain, Jim Yocom, Barky Fuller, John Gilbert, Bobby
Bruce, Jesse Duke, Ron Richards, Pat Mosley, and others I may have forgotten.
Mr. Keith and Horace Fuller (Barky's Dad) took us hunting and fishing as a class
several times during those years. Richard was always at church during this period of
time and sang in the Youth Choir. Our choir even won some awards at Ouachita
Baptist College in Arkadelphia singing "Go Tell It On The Mountain.” There were
many of our girls who were in the First Baptist choir then including Barbara T. Burke,
Helen Hall Harris, Jan Moses Lawson, Jacque P. Williams Rogers, the Chism sisters,
Thalia and Dema, and many more who kept us guys in tune. Richard had a great
singing voice as I remember.
Chism went out for the football team most of those years and was one of the 21
seniors that walked the ladies at HHS homecoming in 1952. Shortly after graduation
Chism, Jesse, Ellis Rothwell, and John Keck joined the U.S. Marines and got to spend
some time in Korea during that Police Action, as the Democrats called the Korean
War. It was not until about 1958 during Hope's undefeated football season that I
remember seeing Chism again. Tom Ed Hays, Bobby Bruce, Dee Coffee, Bert
Chamberlain and some others were still in the Hope area looking for work or were
back in college as I was.
Several of us went to the out-of-town football games in 1958 and even took 13 train
cars to Conway, AR to a play off game which the Bobcats won. I know Chism and I
went along on the train with most of the Hope folks.
Tom Ed, Bert C., Chism, and I also attended the Camden game that year and Richard
drove his auto there. He had plenty of refreshments for us all. I had made it through
Korea and had drunk only ONE beer! This particular night I had more than one and
got a little light headed. Everything was funny and I became more talkative. Thank
God, Chism was our driver and returned us home in one piece!
I lost contact with Chism after 1958 for many years because I went to TX to finish
college, got a job at the Post Office in Waco, married Benja, reared a family etc.
When Benja passed away on Aug. 14, 2000, I decided her final resting place would
be at Memory Gardens in Hope for the convenience of her family from TX and me.
While at the graveside service at Memory Gardens someone, who I did not know at
the time, walked up to me. Our fallen chests touched as he gave me a big Marine
bear hug. I then asked him "Who are you?"
He answered "Chism," grinned ,and stepped back. Both of us had lost some hair and
put on a few pounds. I never saw Chism after that encounter until l later took that
big picture of the whole class to his workplace (B. J. Refreshments) in Texarkana,
USA. The employees there all got a big laugh at Richard's and my pictures and how
much we had changed. You could tell that all of his fellow workers thought the world
of Chism! (You can see this class picture that Perry put on the website after lots of
work making it more viewable: http://www.hopeclassof1953.com/class_picture.html)
After several visits to B.J. Refreshments by several of us, we finally got Chism to
attend our 50th class reunion. We now have pictures of the four Marines together on
the web site. This was in 2003 the last reunion Richard attended that I remember.
With the recent passing of John Keck, there are only two marines left in the photo of
the four that are pictured on both Richard's and John's memorial pages.
Phillip Gilbert and Don Lauterback(D) joined the Marines later in 1953. Phillip still
lives in Hope.
Richard Ray Chism was a great friend and teammate and is greatly missed by all.
Clyde Arnold
May 1, 2009