Myrna Vandiver

Myrna Vandiver, age 86 of Oglesby, was called home to her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on February 5, 2022. 

Funeral services will be held at 10:00 a.m. Friday, February 11, 2022 at First Baptist Church of Oglesby, 120 College Avenue in Oglesby, with Rev. Marcos Gohlke officiating.  Interment will follow at Davidson Cemetery.  The family will receive visitors from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. Thursday, February 10^th at Scott’s Funeral Home in Gatesville.

Myrna Loy Vandiver was born on June 1, 1935, in Oglesby, the second of four children to the late Rufus and Leota Gray McCauley. She had fond memories of growing up in Oglesby with family, school, friends and the First Baptist Church of Oglesby family. She was a member of “Our Gang,” a group of lifetime childhood friends that included Joe Kathryn Pollard Cox, Kaye Bannister, Geneva Robinson-Walker, Joan Lamb-Cook, and Martha Pollard-Peterson. Her childhood hero was her grandmother, Edna Powell-Gray “Mama Gray.” Her grandparents, parents, friends and their families were all faithful Christians.

Myrna surrendered her life to Jesus on a Saturday morning in the summer of 1947. At 12 years old, she was baptized during a revival at the Pecan Grove Baptist Church. Her future husband, Graham, was also at the revival. They were baptized in the same river on the same morning, but Myrna was six years younger than Graham and they did not know each other yet. Years later, during Myrna’s senior year of high school, she and Graham began dating.  On April 4, 1953, Myrna married Robert “Graham” Vandiver.  Graham’s work moved them around the states of Texas and Louisiana for a couple of years before they eventually settled back in their hometown of Oglesby, to build their life together. With blessings from God, their family grew and the Lord inspired them to start the Graham Vandiver Earthmoving Construction business in 1956. For the next 50 years, they made land improvements by digging stock ponds and private lakes on farms and ranches throughout Coryell and McLennan Counties.  Myrna was Graham’s business partner and a jack-of-all-trades homemaker. Graham was a heavy equipment operator and could fix just about anything that ran on gas or diesel and Myrna took care of the home. With a little help from her children, she did everything from cooking to maintenance. Myrna learned to sew as a young girl and she would make clothes for herself and for her younger sister, Sue. She continued using this skill by making clothes, blankets, dolls and toys for her children and grandchildren. In addition to teaching her children all about Jesus, Myrna was the pre-school teacher to her children and some of her grandchildren. She collected family history, local history and family photos. She was a pianist with a beautiful voice, and one of her favorite songs to perform for her children was “Dwelling in the Beulah Land.”

Above everything else, Myrna loved our Lord Jesus and spending time with her family and friends, often while gathered around her lime green kitchen table. Her children entertained the family around the table, trying their best to outdo one another by seeing who could make their parents laugh the most. The morning talk over breakfast and coffee started around the table. Business meetings were held around the table and her children all have fond memories of the conversations, stories and jokes that came from many characters over many years who sat at the table. Myrna’s kitchen table went out of fashion in the 1970s, but her and Graham’s graciousness kept it surrounded by family and friends for many more decades.    

In the early 1980s when Myrna’s children began to leave home, she began working outside of the home. She worked at a veterinarian office, a nursing home, Smead Stationery Manufacturing, and the US Post Office before retiring in 2000. Her grandchildren began to multiply during this period of her life, and she was renamed as “Ninny” by her first grandchild.

Myrna said, “God created Graham and me to be soulmates,” and she was forever Graham’s faithful wife and business partner. They lived a genuine life together for over 50 years until Graham’s passing in 2006. In 2007, Myrna sold Vandiver Earthmoving Construction. Over the next few years, she continued to serve Jesus by loving her family and friends. She spent the last four years of her life living in the loving care of the Lutheran Sunset Home in Clifton, until Jesus called her home.

She was preceded in death by her parents; husband Graham Vandiver; son, Robert Graham Vandiver, II; brothers, Kenneth McCauley, Robert (Bobby) McCauley.

Myrna is survived by her children, Teresa Vandiver; Cheryl Bankhead and husband, Jerry, Rob Vandiver, III, Debbie Glassco and husband, Sonny, Bill Vandiver and wife, Tracy; sister, Sue Gohlke; 13 grandchildren, Rachel Ritchie, Rebecca Aaron, Diane Smith, John Bankhead, Russell Bankhead, Kristen Hamilton, Amy Vandiver, James Feliciano, Jason Vandiver, Cody Schu, Jennifer Thompson, Whitney Vandiver, Kathryn Vandiver; 23 great grandchildren; one great-great grandchild.

In lieu of flowers, the family request that memorial may be made to Lutheran Sunset Home, The Hope Unit, P.O. Box 71, Clifton, TX.  76634.