RICHARDSON, Lena E. (Render)

Lena Evelyn (Render) Richardson was born November 13, 1928 in Eldorado, Oklahoma and passed this life on Tuesday, February 19, 2008 in the Hardeman County Memorial Hospital, Quanah, Texas. Lena Evelyn was the fourth child born to James Olin ôChumö and Lena Leslie (Gardner) Render. She was the only one who survived to adulthood. A 1946 graduate of Eldorado High School, Lena Evelyn attended Oklahoma College for Women in Chickasha and Oklahoma A & M University in Stillwater. Much to the dismay of her parents, she did not complete her college education, but returned to Eldorado to marry the love of her life John Doyle Richardson on November 20, 1948 in Quanah, Texas. They made their home in Eldorado. Their only child, Leslie Joan, arrived on Easter Sunday, April 9, 1950. The young family then moved to Wichita, Kansas. From there they moved to Yuma, Arizona where they farmed irrigated cotton; then to Lubbock, Pampa and Dimmitt, Texas, before returning to Eldorado to take over the Render family farm and to custom combine. While in Pampa, Lena Evelyn and John Doyle were both employed by Cabot, John at the plant and as a driver and Lena Evelyn in the downtown office where she had her first taste of technology as an IBM keypunch operator. While in Dimmitt, she worked part time in the office of the Castro County Judge. Click to learn more... Following John Doyle’s death in 1971, she took on the farming operation and worked as an inspector at one of the factories in Eldorado; in the mid 1970’s she was employed as a house mother at the Canadian County Youth Shelter in El Reno, Oklahoma. Lena Evelyn then began working at the bank in Eldorado in 1978, where she worked until her retirement. Lena Evelyn and J.R. Miller were married in July 1984. This was a second marriage for both. J.R. passed away in October 1994. Lena Evelyn had a passion for reading. She campaigned long and hard for the bookmobile that services this area. A member of several local clubs and organizations, she gave one hundred percent to what she believed in. Rev. Don Ladner, formerly of Eldorado, will conduct her service on Thursday, February 21, 2008, at 2:00 p.m. at the Eldorado First Baptist Church, where she was a member; burial will follow at the Eldorado Cemetery under the direction of Lowell-Tims Funeral Home of Eldorado. Preceded in death by her siblings; her parents; her husbands; son-in-law, James Crawford Gillam; her half brother, Glen Render, Lena Evelyn leaves behind her daughter, Joan Gillam and grandson, Trevin Gillam, both of Eldorado; a niece, Paralyn (Render) Moore, Canyon, Texas; a few relatives and a great number of friends. Her absence will create an emptiness in the hearts of those who knew her.