Fannin County TXGenWeb
Grace & Fess Whitfill

Floydada Hesperian-Beacon, May 19, 1986
GRACE WHITFILL
   Christina Grace Feagans Whitfill of Snyder, a former longtime Floydada resident, was claimed by death Friday in Cogdell Memorial Hospital in Snyder, following a brief illness.  She was 78.
   She was the widow of Fess Whitfill.
   Memorial services were at 4:00 p.m. Sunday in Moore-Rose Funeral Home in Floydada with the Rev. Harry Burke officiating.  Interment was made in Floydada Cemetery.
   Pallbearers included:  David Kirk, Kenneth Bain, Henry Finley, Eddie Munoz, Harold Norrell and Jon Whitfield.
   Mrs. Whitfill was a Catholic and a housewife.
   The Jones County native was married in August 1929 in Clovis, N.M., to Fess Whitfill.  She moved to Snyder following the death of her husband in 1976.
   Survivors are: one daughter, Cynthia Romo of San Antonio; five sons, Reuben Whitfill of Snyder, Douglas Whitfill of Pacific Grove, California, Albert Whitfill of Houston, Cypert Whitfill of Forest Hill, Maryland, and Denis Whitfill of Greensboro, North Carolina; 14 grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.

  (research note: Christina Grace Feagans Whitfill was the
daughter of Preston Lane Feagans and Laura Emily Binion. She was the granddaughter of Reubin T. Binion and Huldah A. Herrin and of the Grayson County of Daniel Feagans, a CSA veteran, and  Mary Ann Blanton.  Great grandparents were Fannin pioneers Stephen Fletcher Blanton and Sarah McDaniel and of Grayson County pioneers Jackson Feagans and Annie Liles, aka Annie Lyles

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Floyd County Hesperian Beacon, February 12, 1976
FESS Whitfill
   Services for Alpheus Festus "Fess" Whitfill, who would have been 75 February 13, and a longtime veterinarian in Floydada, will be conducted Friday morning, February 13 at 10 o'clock in the St. May Magdelin Church in Floydada.  Officiating at the rites will be Father Casey. Interment will be in Floydada Cemetery with Moore-Rose funeral Home in charge of arrangements.
   Whitfill died Monday night at his home of an apparent heart attach.
  A native of Alma, Texas, he was born in 1901 and moved to Floyd county in 1923.  He and the former Grace Feagans were married in Clovis, New Mexico, August 16, 1930.  Whitfill farmed in the Liberty Community in Floyd County a number of years and during the siege of stock sleeping sickness in 1941, started taking care of the sick animals.  the following year neighbors prepared and planted his farm land in order that he could continue caring for stock and the following year he gave up farming and went into veterinary
work fulltime.
   Whitfill was instrumental in securing what is thought to be the first
Catholic church in Floydada.  He donated land for the church and through his donations, time and efforts, the church was built just adjacent to the Whitfill home, near where the Floydada Nursing home now stands.  the church building was torn down a few years ago, moved to Wall Street and remodeled.
   Whitfill is survived by his wife, five sons, Reuben of Snyder, Douglas of Pacific grove, Calif., Albert of West Covina, Calif, Cypert of forest hill, Md., and Denis of Greenville, S.C.; a daughter, Mrs. Cynthia Romo of San Antonio; one brother, Robert of Pottsville; four sisters, Mrs. Andy Whitfill and Mrs. Alice Whitfill both of Alma, Mrs. R.C. Wilson and Mrs. Esther Langley both of Lockney and 14 grandchildren.

(Fess Whitfill was the son of Martin Robert Whitfill and Margaret Lena Curlin who are buried in Ellis County, Texas. Fess Whitfill's wife was Christina Grace Feagans Whitfill.  She was the daughter of Preston Lane Feagans and Laura Emily Binion. She was the granddaughter of Reubin T. Binion and Huldah A. Herrin and of the Grayson County of Daniel Feagans, a CSA veteran, and  Mary Ann Blanton.
Great grandparents were Fannin pioneers Stephen Fletcher Blanton and Sarah McDaniel and of Grayson County pioneers Jackson Feagans and Annie Liles, aka Annie Lyles