Barbara Ray Huckabee

Barbara Huckabee, age 80 of Gatesville, passed away on Friday, July 5, 2024. 

Memorial services will be scheduled at a later date. 

Barbara Ray Huckabee was born on August 15, 1943 in Clifton, Texas to Raymond and Viola Struempler Buth. Her father served in the Pacific Theater and returned home to their home in Coryell City when she was two years old. She spent her entire childhood in that community surrounded by grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. She attended school in Gatesville, Texas.

In the early 1960s she gave birth to two daughters, Charlotte and Lisa Lee. In December 1966 she married Roger Paul Huckabee and they spent the rest of their lives together. The family moved to Austin, Texas, where Roger became an officer in the Austin Police Department. In Austin, Barbara found her career in banking, working for various savings and loan institutions. She rose to the position of Vice President before retiring to focus on her family and personal life.

In 1971 she and Roger welcomed their son Wade into their lives and their family was complete, until grandbabies started to arrive. In 1981 the first of four grandchildren came. These babies were truly the loves of her life - there was nothing she adored more. Later she would be blessed with five great grandchildren.

Upon Roger’s retirement from the Austin Police Department, they moved back to their hometown of Gatesville. After the move, Barbara became involved with Books R Fun, a business she loved having. She was a people person and got so much pleasure going to all the districts in her region to sell and deliver books. There was a great deal of nepotism involved with that business because she recruited almost every member of the family to work for her in some capacity. It was quite a family adventure.

Barbara had several hobbies. She enjoyed oil painting and teaching the kids how to paint. She loved playing bingo and going to Vegas to play slots. She could sit for hours doing any of these. She was a huge Tom Jones fan and was able to see him in concert several times. She went so far as to dress up as him one time and do her own Tom Jones performance at a family picnic.

To many in our family she was Aunt B. That extended to cousins and their children even if she was not technically their aunt.

She was preceded in death by Roger, her husband of 57 years, her parents, her daughters Charlotte and Lisa Lee, and a very special Aunt, Eloise Schraeder.

She is survived by her son Wade Huckabee and his wife Krista, her grandchildren Megan Richardson and her husband Rhett, Cody Mohler and his wife Robin, Griffin and Finley Huckabee, her great grandchildren Tyler, Tripp and Tinsley Richardson and Haz and Mya Mohler, her sisters Linda Draper and her husband Jim Ed and Brenda Byrom and her husband David, and a host of nieces, nephews and cousins.