Marjorie W. Chambers

Marjorie Griffin Chambers died on May 30, 2019 at her home in Harlingen, Texas at the age of ninety-nine.  Services will be held at 3:00 PM, June 1, 2019 at the North 7th Street Church of Christ with Scott Pinkerton officiating.  She will be buried in Odessa, Texas at Sunset Memorial Gardens under the direction of Buck Ashcraft Funeral Home.

Mrs. Chambers was born on September 5, 1919 in Dallas, Texas to Claudia Katherine Arrington and Thomas Angus Griffin.  She had three great loves in her life: God, her family, and West Texas, in that order.  She was a life-long, faithful member of the Church of Christ and worshipped in Odessa at the Eisenhower, Sherwood, and 6th and Jackson congregations.  After she moved to Harlingen in 2003, she worshiped at the 8th and Harrison and North 7th Street congregations.  She studied the Bible every day of her adult life for as long as she remained able to read.  In her last years, when she was unable to attend services, she received Communion each Sunday at her home.  She prayed constantly through her last days.

In 1941, Mrs. Chambers married William H. Chambers, Sr.  They lived together in happiness and their three children, Claudia (Dr. David) Sowell of Tulsa, Oklahoma; Dr. William “Bill” (Virginia) Chambers, Jr. of Tyler, Texas and Marjorie (Andrew) Rozell of Harlingen, Texas survive her.   After her husband died in 1957, she dedicated her life to them.   She sent them all to Abilene Christian University, watched them all marry happily, and welcomed two grandchildren from each of them.  She took joy in her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  She never remarried, preferring to wait for a reunion with “her Bill.”

Mrs. Chambers lived in Odessa, Texas for fifty years and in West Texas for longer than that.  She treasured her own education and dedicated her talents to the education of others.  After graduating from Adamson High School in Dallas in 1936, she received a bachelor’s degree from Abilene Christian College in 1940. In 1968, she received Master of Science from Hardin-Simmons University.  She spent her professional career with Odessa Public Schools at Dowling and Burnet Elementary Schools, Crockett Junior High, and Odessa High School.  She also joined and served as chapter president of PEO Sisterhood, Chapter DZ, Delta Kappa Gamma, and Kappa Kappa Iota professional organizations.  She held season tickets for Odessa Permian High School football and attended games from the school’s opening until she left Odessa.

In 2003, she moved to Harlingen to be closer to her daughter Marjorie, although she kept a subscription to the “Odessa American” so she could follow Permian band and football.  When she was not a church or caring for her family, she could usually be found playing bridge, watching football, or at her weekly hairdresser appointment.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband William H. Chambers, Sr., her brothers, Raymond Griffin and Thomas A. Griffin, and sisters, Elizabeth McSwain and Mary Olive Granger.

She is survived by all three of her children and their spouses.  Her surviving grandchildren are Laura (Brent) Dennis, Elizabeth Sowell, Judith Chambers, Joshua (Valerie) Chambers, Griffin (Olga) Rozell and Caroline (Steve) Toumazatos along with eight great grandchildren, Zane, Ethan, and Abigail Dennis; Kathryn, Lauren, and Allyson Chambers; and Anastasia and Claudia Rozell.

Caregivers Christina Villela, Maria Gallardo, Anita Cortez, Maggie Quinones and Conchita Jaime cared for her with dignity and compassion in her last years.  The family also thanks Dr. Jason Peters and Kindred Hospice for their diligent care.

For her ninety-nine years of love, service to others and faithfulness, her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren thank Jesus Christ. “Charm is deceitful, and beauty vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.”  Proverbs 31:30.