Etta ‘Alene’ Tucker-Drinkard, 85, passed away peacefully on August 4, 2013, in Midland, Texas, after a long and courageous battle with Alzheimer’s.
Visitation will be Wednesday, August 7th at the Heartland Funeral Home from 6:00 until 8:00PM. Funeral services will be held at First Baptist Church in Early, Texas, Thursday August 8th at 2:00 PM with Jayson Hart of Odessa, Texas officiating.
Etta ‘Alene’ Tucker-Drinkard was born August 13, 1928, to James Edward Tucker and Janie Pugh-Tucker on a farm in Brown County. Soon after her birth, the family moved to the Pugh home place in the Fry Community northwest of Brown County. Alene attended Buffalo School just over the Coleman County line until her family moved to Early in 1945. She graduated from Early High School in 1946, and after graduation, she attended Brownwood Business College where she met a returning sailor and fell in love. She and Jerry Drinkard, Jr. were married in her parents’ home in Early on November 27, 1947. Two daughters were born into this matrimony, Linda Sue and Patricia Kay.Because of Jerry’s occupation as a welder, the family moved where work could be found. They finally settled in Odessa where both children graduated from Permian High School. With both children raised, they moved from Odessa back to Brown County in the early 1970s. There, Alene worked with Jerry for the Early Chamber of Commerce. They both retired in 1990.
Alene was a devoted housewife and mother, seamstress, volunteer, gardener, voracious reader, and genealogist. Alene was a very creative an active woman in and out of the home, always being active in a Baptist Church. She accepted Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior in 1949 and was baptized into the Mobley Baptist Church in Longview. She was a member of the First Baptist Church in Early and remained active as long as her health would allow.
Her passion was history and historical preservation. She was a member of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, Pecan Valley Genealogy Society, Brown County Historical Society, and the Brown County Historical Commission. Alene worked diligently with the Texas Historical Commission and had six State Historical Markers erected in Brown County. Many of her historical articles were published in the Brownwood Bulletin.
She is preceded in death by three brothers, George Edward Tucker, William James Tucker, and Seabird Sterling Tucker, as well as one sister, Dorothy B. Tucker-Chapman.
Survivors include her husband, Jerry Drinkard, Jr., of Midland; two daughters and sons-in-law, Linda and David Kirby of Gardendale, and Patty and Loyd Overcash of Houston; four sisters, Juanita Bradley of Brownwood, Imogene Napier of Brownwood, Doris Henexson of Gun Barrel City, and Cleo Smith of Brownwood; three grandchildren, Greg Kirby, Amanda Kirby-Hart, and Angela Neary-Hughes; and seven great-grandchildren, Gregory, Hannah, Matthew, and Tanner; Haley and Hagen Hart, and Annabelle Hughes.
Condolences can be offered to the family at www.heartlandfuneralhome.net.
