Pounders
Roberta Mae (Henry) Pounders, 91, a longtime Rockdale resident, passed away on Oct. 1, 2023, in Rockdale, Milam County.
A memorial service will be held at 1:30 p.m. in the sanctuary of First Christian Church in Rockdale on Sunday, Oct. 29, followed by a reception for family and friends to be held at the Kay Theater in Rockdale.
It was a cold New England winter’s day, that 31st day of January in the year of our Lord 1932. The world was in the throes of “the” Depression when Roberta Mae Henry was born that day on Parrott Street in Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts. Three days later, Roberta’s young mother died at a mere 19 years of age.
Roberta was the second child born to Robert E. Henry Sr. (a Texan temporarily in Boston courtesy of the U.S. Navy) and his first wife, Elizabeth Marilla Smith (a young Yankee beauty whose ancestors had settled in the coastal area of New England before 1650).
Rober ta and her older brother, Robert Jr., spent the first formative years of their lives in the state of their birth. Their father remarried while living in Lynn and the family was eventually extended with the addition of three more little girls.
By the late 1930s, Roberta and Robert Jr. had joined the west Texas household of their paternal grandparents, Edgar and Berta Mary (Sharp) Henry, who were farming in Runnels County at the time.
It would be almost 40 years before Roberta and her brother would return to New England. While on that 1977 pilgrimage to the land of their birth, they commissioned a memorial stone for their young mother’s unmarked grave.
Roberta would later return to Maine and Massachusetts three more times to visit her mother’s grave and walk the lands of her New England ancestors.
By 1939, the Edgar Henry family had returned to Milam County where Roberta attended the public schools at Sandy Creek and Milano before her grandparents finally settled in Rockdale during World War II.
Roberta graduated from Rockdale High School in 1949, where she was involved in many activities, including being a popular cheerleader for four years.
After graduation, Roberta briefly played on a women’s softball team composed of former classmates and women who would become lifelong friends.
She worked at Mehaffey’s for a short time before going to work for Southwestern Bell in the fall of 1949. The “Ma Bell” offices were upstairs over the Singer’s Grill and Roberta often made a quick run to Singer’s for a slice of coconut cream pie. She worked as a telephone operator until Bell converted over to dial in 1952 when Alcoa came to Rockdale.
Roberta had bittersweet memories of being a gawky young girl, sitting on the porch of her grandparents’ home, and watching a handsome “older man” (by four years and a few months) ride his feisty horse down the road in front of their house.
Af ter she finished high school, she started dating that young man, and on Oct. 10, 1950, Roberta married her knight in shining armor aka Forrest Lee “Fuzzy” Pounders. The ceremony took place at Freeport in Brazoria County, where Roberta’s brother was living and working.
The young newlyweds settled in Rockdale, where they spent the next 45 years of their life together. Their home was located just one block west of the house Roberta had shared with her grandparents on Scarbrough.
Forrest Lee died in that home on Jan. 17, 1996, and Roberta would continue to live in the same family home until her death.
As a teenager, Roberta attended the First Baptist Church in Rockdale, but after marriage, she became a member of the First Christian Church. She was one of the multiple church members who literally invested their blood, sweat and tears in the building and finishing of the current building. Her children grew up in this church, which has been the location of multiple family weddings, funerals, and other gatherings throughout their lifetimes.
In later years, Roberta designed and created the glass top of the podium currently located in the vestibule of First Christian Church.
Roberta was an accompl ished seamstress who designed and made her own clothes as a high school student. In the ’50s, she spent many hours sewing matching outfits for her three daughters, as evidenced by numerous photographs she took during that time period. She continued to sew for her daughters all through their school years. She made the bridesmaid dresses for all of their weddings in the ’70s, and even designed and created the unique velvet wedding gown worn by her first born daughter on her wedding day.
Roberta also contributed her skills with a needle and thread, and with paint, to the weddings of each of her granddaughters in the first decade of the 21st century.
Rober ta was ac t i vel y involved in the Rockdale Centennial Celebration in 1974, as well as the local Texas Sesquicentennial events in 1986. In recent years she enjoyed being a member of the Crown Garden Club whose projects included landscaping at the entrance of the Old City Cemetery.
One of Roberta’s most loving artistic creations was finalized with the placement of a custom-designed tombstone at the final resting place of her chosen life-mate. The unique marker stands on a rise in a little country cemetery just south of Rockdale (in Lee County). It is truly a monument to the love she shared with that handsome young man on the fancy- stepping horse.
At 90 years of age, Roberta finally agreed to use a smart phone (even though she hated it), and was still mowing her own yard. She had joined the staff of Phillips & Luckey Funeral Home in Rockdale beginning in August of 1993, where her husband had also worked (after retirement from the postal service) until his diagnosis with kidney cancer in the spring of 1995. She was still employed at this local funeral home until her diagnosis with pancreatic cancer in June of 2021.
Roberta loved time spent with family and friends, and attending the activities of her children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
She enjoyed autumn in New England, walking on the beach, hot tea and ginger snaps, pedicures, Blue Bell ice cream, Vince Gill, lighthouses, old hymns.
Some of Roberta’s favorite pastimes through the years included antiquing, collecting vintage glassware, traveling, feeding the birds in her yard (and trying to outsmart the squirrels who kept eating all of the bird feed), designing and creating stained glass projects, and woodworking.
Roberta is survived by her four children, Vickie Everhart, Rebecca Nink, Pam (Mike) Bryan and Robert (Renee) Pounders, as well as her three sisters, Carole Sanders, Elaine Clee, and Susan (Jimmy) Aigner.
She is also survived by seven grandchildren and eight great- grandchildren: Emily Northern and her sons, Cole and Oliver; Jacob Nink; Jaime (Mike) Turman and their sons, Miles, Elliott and Spencer; James (Drea) Bryan and their daughter; Lesley (Shayne) McGehee and their two sons; Monty Northern and his husband, Mike Pulk; and Trent Northern.
Roberta also leaves behind numerous other relatives and lifelong friends.
Roberta was preceded in death by her loving husband, Fuzzy Pounders; her parents; her brother; two sons-in-law, Bennie Everhart and Randall Nink; and two brothers-in-law, Bill Sanders and Gale Clee.
Our Mom, Gma, sister, friend, was strong willed and stubborn at times. She was a private and quiet person, but also witty and fun. She worried about her kids and grandkids and great-grandkids, rooted for them, protected them, and always kept on loving them. She delighted in sending greeting cards for every occasion.
She loved sweet iced tea (with lots of ice), a good steak, Mike’s fried potatoes, boiled or grilled or fried shrimp, Emily’s backyard cookouts, Texas wildflowers, looking for Monty while watching the Astros on TV, her class reunions, trips to visit Jaime and family in Colorado, eating out, spending time with Lesley and James and their families at the fish camp.
In her final weeks, she enjoyed visits from her sisters and other longtime friends. She wrapped herself up in a warm fuzzy blanket while enjoying Dr Pepper floats. She shared a spaghetti lunch with her lifelong friend, LeJean, ate sweet watermelon provided by a new friend, and enjoyed cornbread and beans provided by her classmate, Betty.
We will always love and miss her, until we meet again.
In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation in our Roberta’s name to a charity or organization of your choice.
The family would like to thank all of those who encouraged Mom through her battle with cancer, and reached out to her with their flowers, cards, phone calls, thoughts and prayers. Your friendship and your thoughtfulness was always appreciated.