Tennie Hale

She never intended to live so long, but Tennie Louise Hickox Hale celebrated her 104th birthday in May of 2017. She died Friday, March 2, 2018 in Dayton, Texas where she lived the final part of her life being cared for by her granddaughter Susan Addington and her family.

Funeral services will be 1 P.M., Wednesday, March 7, 2018 at Lawson Funeral Home in Meridian. Visitation will be from Noon until service time. Burial will be at the Morgan Cemetery. Rev. Holly Dittrich will officiate. Tennie's 6 grandsons will serve as the pallbearers.

Born on the family farm in Bosque County, near the town of Morgan on May 26, 1913. Tennie loved school as a student and as a teacher and was a life long learner. In retirement she read several books a week until her failing eyesight limited her to fewer.

Her parents were Charley R. and Daisy Moseley Hickox. She is also predeceased by her sister, Leone Bynum; her husband, Joe Hale; her son, Charles Hale; and her daughter, Katherine Hale Dittrich; as well as a great-granddaughter.

After two years at Clifton College, Tennie began her teaching career at the Locust Grove School in Odds teaching 4th, 5th, and 6th grades and secondary English in a 3 room school. She met her husband at an ice cream social at the school where his younger brother was a student. (They were married March 31, 1934 in Marlin, Texas.) The next two years she taught in La Salle and then returned to Odds. As people moved away from Limestone County during WWII, Locust Grove became a one room school where her 3 oldest children where among her students. She also taught in Falls County at Criswell, a one room school with 4 of her 5 children in the room.

When her husband Joe died in 1953, Tennie moved her family to San Marcos to finish her degree at South West Texas State Teachers College. While she taught at Navarro, she completed her Bachelor's Degree and began her Masters Degree. They moved to Pasadena for higher pay but returned to San Marcos two summers for Tennie to finish her Masters and to become certified to teach Special Education.

Tennie retired from teaching in the Pasadena school district in 1978, ending a 33 year career. She continued to substitute in Pasadena and then in the Hays school district when she moved to Kyle. She was a member of the San Marcos Area Retired Teachers, Kyle Garden Club, and the First Methodist Church of Kyle. She was an avid reader who used and appreciated the Kyle Community Library. She volunteered at the Library thrift shop.

She is survived by her 3 daughters and their husbands: Dorethea and Bill Norville of Pasadena, Martha and Norman Brown of Dayton, Mary and Eddy Etheredge of Kyle as well as her daughter-in-law, Barbara Hale of Huntsville, and son-in-law, Bernd Dittrich and wife, Terry, of Rockport. Also surviving her are 13 grandchildren, Nancy Brown Baker of Liberty, Dale and Joe Brown Riley of Dayton, Robin Hale Moore of Magnolia, Susan Brown Addington of Dayton, Lee Norville of Pasadena, Sarah Norville Ludeke of Deer Park, Laura Etheredge Sobczak of Rapid City, SD, Jeff Etheredge of Austin, Charla Hale Cobel of Magnolia, Charles Hale, Jr., "Chuck" of Huntsville, Robert Dittrich of Hurst and Richard Dittrich of Kyle; 34 great-grandchildren; and 26 great-great-grandchildren.

The family would appreciate memorial contributions to the:

Kyle Community Library
P.O. Box 2349
Kyle, Texas 78640

Words of comfort and peace can be sent to the family at www.lawsonfuneralhome.net.

Arrangements were made by Lawson Funeral Home, Meridian, Texas 254-435-2792.