Robert Lee Hutchens

Funeral services for Mr. Robert Lee Hutchens, 75, of the Galloway Community, will be held at 2:00pm Friday, December 10, 2010 at the Galloway Methodist Church with Dr. Jack Willis officiating. Burial will follow at Adams Cemetery in Panola County under the direction of Hawthorn Funeral Home. Family visitation will be held Thursday, December 9, 2010 from 6-8:00pm at the funeral home. Robert died Monday, December 6, 2010 in Houston, Texas, from prostate cancer. Born March 20, 1935 in the Galloway Community of Panola County, Texas, Robert was the second child of the late Gorden Silas Hutchens and Opal Pearl (Broadaway) Hutchens. Robert grew up helping the family operate their Log Cabin Grocery and farm in Galloway, and went on to graduate from Carthage High School. Before graduating, however, Robert joined the Texas Army National Guard, where he served from 1952-1955. Soon after, Robert moved to Houston, Texas, where he lived and worked briefly before his enlistment in the United States Army. During this brief period of time in Houston, Robert also met, and would later marry, Josephine Eva Chenier. It was in 1957 that Robert continued his service to his country, as a United States Army Medic, while stationed overseas in Germany. A skilled marksman, Robert also received numerous awards for his excellent sharpshooting abilities, before being honorably discharged in 1960. Robert then went on to marry Josephine Eva Chenier in Houston, Texas on September 5, 1962. There they raised two daughters, while Robert enjoyed long standing careers across the fields of transportation, security and finally the automotive industry. Robert also enjoyed a lifetime love of music, playing lead guitar in a rockabilly band in Houston, as well as writing and playing his own country and western songs later in life. His heart never being far from his childhood home, Robert and Eva eventually retired in Galloway. Widowed in 1984, Robert lived out his remaining years in Galloway. Robert is survived by one sister: Betty Jean Hutchens St. Clair; children: Dana Lea Hutchens Ballard and Jennifer Ellen Hutchens Cornell, and son-in-law David Cornell II; grandchildren: Blair Victoria Ballard, Vivianne Josephine Cornell and Sophia Jane Cornell; nieces and nephews: Charlotte Ann St. Clair Sage, Claude Ray St. Clair Jr., Geraldine St. Clair Winningham, Cathleen St. Clair Terry, and John Stanley St. Clair. Robert is preceded in death by his wife, Josephine Eva (Chenier) Hutchens, his parents, Gorden Silas Hutchens and Opal Pearl (Broadaway) Hutchens, and by his infant sister, Peggy Ann Hutchens. Serving as pallbearers will be Billy Broadaway, Kenneth Walker, Douglas Wilburn, Garth LaGrone, Ray St. Clair and David Cornell. Serving as honorary pallbearer will be John St. Clair.

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Robert Lee Hutchens

March 20, 1935 - December 6, 2010