Barry ... Bryce ... and Bobcat Blue....

by Jennifer Johnston

It is with great sadness that I post the news of the deaths of two more members of our Class of 1963 from Childress High School.... We have also recently lost our dearly loved Nicki Sooter Wilcoxson, but I am holding Nicki's commemorative post until she may be joined once again by her husband and our classmate and friend, Jim Wilcoxson.... If any of you have stories or memories of any of these classmates, or if you know of some classmates who have died without our knowledge, please email me....

Barry Lloyd Wakefield
February 28, 1945 - January 20, 2015

Barry was born in California, and died there as well. He the lived and grew up in Childress until our graduation. I remember Barry as being sweet, pleasant and thoughtful. I was talking recently with our classmate Pat Davenport Shapiro, who reminisced about how much fun Barry was, particularly when they worked together for the UIL One-Act Play contest our Senior year, along with Linda Bridges Cook and Jack Petty.

Joe Don Hopkins recently sent me an email about his lifelong friendship with Barry, and I will let Joe's words be Barry's memorial here....

As Joe wrote: "Barry was a very special friend that I have known since the first grade. We became very good friends in High school and did the usual rebels without a clue routine for 3 of those 4 years. This carried over into a semester at Tech before we both dropped out and dealt with our pending draft notices.

"Barry joined the Navy for 4 years and had several Med cruises. Prior to that we got together on some weekends in San Diego when I would come down to San Diego from Camp Pendleton for a weekend of rebels without a clue, Chapter 2.

"Barry's ship visited the port of Houston once when I was attending U of H there and working. He also visited me once or twice there when he was coming home for annual leave. He got out of the Navy in the summer or late spring of 1969, moved back to Childress and then to Lubbock to finish his accounting degree at Tech.

"He moved to California in about 1974 and then settled in at Oxnard from about 1976 until his death in 2015. He worked for the same agricultural  company for that entire period of time.

"I visited him in Oxnard 4-6 times and would see him in Childress once annually when his parents were still alive. I think his mom died in 1997 after his dad died in 01/1991. I would still see him in Childress about once annually or every other year for his family reunions there.

"We talked on the telephone about once a month from about 1980 to 2015. We discussed books, movies, current events, the world going to hell in a hand basket and reminisced about our youthful exploits. We met up in Las Vegas a few times including once or twice with James Claude Holton and James Douglas Greer. We did a pretty fair imitation of rebels without a clue on one or two occasions but they were not impressed in Vegas.

"I think I last saw Barry in 2012 or 2013 in Childress. We spoke by telephone about a  week or two before he died. He was not feeling well and had gone home early from work. We talked again the following week and he was doing better.

"Barry was a dear friend whom I loved and respected very much. He was a solid citizen, hard worker and a loyal and trusted friend to many people. He was well thought of at work and developed friendships with vendors who called on him as well as coworkers. I miss him and long for another conversation with him.

"Barry was a very steady person, never down or critical of anything except our government and the silly state of California. He was patriotic and was a very loving son to his parents when they were alive. Barbara Wakefield always felt that Barry would not get into any trouble when he was with me and my mother felt the same about Barry. We sure had them fooled."

I so appreciate and thank Joe for sharing his memories of Barry with us. And I love the line Joe used about "rebels without a clue".... What an excellent description of a lot of us from the Class of 1963 as we lived through teenaged angst and confusion....

Bryce Wormsbaker

August 21, 1945 - April 30, 2015

A lifelong, avid Bobcat football supporter, Bryce was very involved in helping youth in athletics. He formed the C.A.T.S. (Christian Athletic Training and Strength) program, was a former head of the Little League basketball program and was one of the founders of the Childress Little League football. 

Bryce loved Childress, and he loved to work in his yard and dabbling in horticulture, creating his own little paradise here. He was a member of the First Baptist Church, and above all else was a loving and devoted father, husband and grandfather. 

He was preceded in death by his parents, and by his siblings Alvin, Helen and Myrna. 

Survivors include his wife, Sheila of the home; Son, Kelcey Wormsbaker and wife, Jamie of Lubbock; two grandsons, Ryder Wormsbaker and Gunnar Wormsbaker of Lubbock; two brothers, Neil Wormsbaker and wife, Ethel of Mesa, AZ, and Bill Wormsbaker and wife, Freda of Kingman, AZ;  sister, Tiana Swafford of Amarillo; numerous extended family and friends.  (Information courtesy of Johnson Funeral Home of Childress)

Richard Bach wrote: "Don't be dismayed at goodbyes. A farewell is necessary before you can meet again. And meeting again, after moments or lifetimes, is certain for those who are friends." Although it may sometimes be hard to remember that, I do believe it, and I take comfort in the thought. I hope you will as well.

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