Ara Newton “Blackie” Blackwell, born July 17, 1909 in Fayette County, Texas, died at his home in Sour Lake, Texas on July 3, 2004 at 94 years of age.
Graveside Service will be Tuesday, July 6, 2004 at 11:00 a.m. at Alum Creek Cemetery in Smithville under the direction of Broussard’s, 700 West Saratoga Highway, Kountze, Texas.
He was a sixty plus year member of Masonic Lodge #642 in Kountze. He spent most of his adult life in Kountze, where he was a foreman for Cariker Lumber Company. He retired from that job and stayed home for a short while. Ara then went to work for the National Park Service as a heavy equipment operator in the Big Thicket National Park.
He is preceded in death by his wife of 62 years, Rubelle Hoffman Blackwell; and oldest daughter, Bobbi Jean Rogers of Smithville, Texas.
Ara is survived by daughters, Dollie Johnson and her husband Cline of Willis, Texas, Carol Brown of Beaumont, and Jane Bomer and her husband Glynn of Reklaw, Texas; son, Dwight Blackwell of Alabama; ten grandchildren and twenty-two great-grandchildren.
At this time the family wishes to give special thanks to his dedicated caregivers, Jamesetta Thompkins, Zola “Granny” Richardson, Marsha Wingate-Thompkins, and Alice Cooper, all of who lived in Sour Lake or Beaumont. We also thank the hospice nurses and doctor who were so kind and took such good care of him in his last days.