John Frank Post, Jr.

John Frank Post, Jr., age 95, of Gatesville, passed away Thursday, January 25, 2018. Visitation will be held from 2:00 – 3:00 p.m., Wednesday, January 31, 2018 at Scott’s Funeral Home. Private graveside services will be held at Gatesville Masonic Cemetery. John Frank was born on November 7, 1922 in Gatesville, Texas to John Frank Post, Sr. and Genella Morrison Post. Except for a couple of early childhood years in Shreveport, Louisiana, he lived in Gatesville all his life. He graduated from Gatesville High School in 1939 and attended John Tarleton College. He was married on February 2, 1941 to Treva Davis, the bride he loved and cherished for a lifetime. During the latter stages of WWII, John Frank served in the US Navy as a radar operator aboard the escort aircraft carrier, USS Mindoro. Led to Christ by his sainted mother, he was converted when he was ten years old. He had been a member of the First Baptist Church since 1932, and during many of his late years was a greeter-usher at the church services and president of the Jackson Sunday School Class. As a schoolboy, John Frank started working as sports editor for the Coryell County News. He later worked there fulltime as a printer and sports editor. In 1942, he moved over to the Gatesville Messenger and during most of his 43 years there was the newspaper’s editor and co-publisher. During these years, he enjoyed writing a weekly sports column headed “Post-ed.” He was also a “stringer correspondent” for the Waco and Temple newspapers, and an occasional contributor to the Dallas Morning News. After selling his interest in the The Gatesville Messenger, he was named administrator for both the 52nd State District Court and the Coryell County Court. After nine years in that work, he retired in 1993. John Frank had been a member of the Coryell Memorial Hospital’s board of trustees, appointed in 1955. He also served terms of varying lengths on the governing boards of the Gatesville School District, Coryell Museum, and Gatesville Housing Authority. In 2000 – 2001, at the behest of Board Chairman, Erle Powell, he researched and wrote a history of the local hospital, which the hospital published in booklet form. He was a member of the Gatesville Lion Club for 60 years, during which he served two lengthy stints as the club’s bulletin editor. He was the club’s Lion of the Year in 2007. He was Gatesville’s Man of the Year in 1967-68, and in 1969, he received the 7th annual Norris Graves Award, as an outstanding ex-student of Gatesville High School. In 2000, the Gatesville Exchange Club selected him for its Book of Golden Deeds Award. In 2014, he was accorded the singular honor of being selected one of the first inductees into the Gatesville High School Athletic Hall of Honor. He was preceded in death by his parents; brother, Fred Morrison Post, in 1963; and by sister, Mrs. Joe (Mary Ann) Thompson, in 1978. John is survived by his wife, Treva Post of Gatesville; son, Terry Post and wife, Mona of Georgetown; daughter, Diane Post of Austin; granddaughter, Laura Garcia and husband, Jerry of Houston; grandson, Gregory Morrison Post of Houston; two nephews; and three nieces. Memorials may be made to Coryell Memorial Foundation, 1507 West Main Street, Gatesville, TX 76528.