Claudine Guthrie Powell age 87 of Gainesville passed away Monday November 14, 2011
at the Renaissance Care Center in Gainesville, Texas.
Claudine was born in Dayton, Texas, on Feb. 17, 1924, the second of four children (Doris, the eldest; her brother Bobbie, the third; and Bradford, the youngest) to Claude Earl and Della Marie Guthrie (nee Johnson). She always recounted fond childhood memories of visiting her maternal grandparents, the Johnsons, in Riverside, Texas, a small rural community near the Trinity River north of Huntsville, where her Grandfather Johnson, a deacon of the church and prominent Riverside resident, owned and operated the local general store. She graduated from Dayton High School, where she was an honor student and the drum major of the high school band.
By this time her parents and two brothers had moved to Conroe, Texas, where her father Claude, a dragline operator known for his unusual skills at his job, found employment. Claudine and her sister Doris stayed on in Dayton to secure their high school diploma, living with their Grandmother Guthrie in a venerable old house that had been built by slaves prior to the Civil War. (The story was that there was not a nail in the house, which was held together by wooden pegs.) After completing business school, she went to work at Barksdale Air Force Base in Shreveport, Louisiana, where she lived alternately for a while with her Aunt Faye and Aunt Betty, her father's sisters, in their respective homes. At Barksdale AFB she was employed as a court reporter, a demanding job at which she excelled. It was there that she met her first husband, Rex Perry, an Air Force officer, who later became the father of their two children, Joe and Lawana. Following the death of Mr. Perry she met and married Robert 'Rip" Powell several years later and resided for many years in Waco, Texas, where she and Mr. Powell both were employed by the U.S. Veterans Administration. Following their retirements from the VA, she and MR. Powell enjoyed a peaceful life in Waco for several years until his untimely death. Claudine later moved back to Shreveport, where she spent several of her remaining years before moving to Denton in 2010 and then finally to Gainesville.
A lover of both classical and popular music (Perry Como and Bing Crosby were her favorite singers), she was always known for her avid interest in current affairs, her active church membership, and her love of travel and animals. Her extraordinary intelligence, keen wit, ever-present sense of humor, compassion and generosity will be sorely missed by all who knew her.
Claudine is survived by her son Joe Perry and wife Faylene of Sanger, daughter Lawana Perry of Waco, grandson Don Kirkendoll and wife Kriss and their 2 children of Lexington, S Carolina, brother Brad Guthrie of Berkley, CA, and numerous cousins, nieces, nephews, and in-laws in various states.
Expressions of sympathy in her memory may be directed to St. Paul Episcopal Church, 275 S. Field Road, Shreveport, LA 71105.
Graveside Service will be 2:00 pm Saturday, November 19, 2011 at the Mount Moriah Cemetery in Arcadia, Louisiana. The Rev. Guido Verbeck III will conduct the service. The visitation will be 12:00 to 1:30 pm at the Mount Moriah Methodist Church in Arcadia La. before the service.