James Stembridge Obituary

James Maurice Stembridge of Kilgore: born June 1, 1916, in Starrville, Smith County, Texas died in Tyler Saturday morning, March 15, 2008. He was 91. Private burial in the Kilgore City Cemetery will be followed with a memorial service at the First Presbyterian Church of Kilgore at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, March 18, 2008. Visitation will be at Rader Funeral Home in Kilgore from 6–8 p.m. Monday, March 17.

Mr. Stembridge was the last surviving member of the 1958 Kilgore Charter Commission that framed Kilgore's present day city Charter. Mr. Stembridge served as secretary of the commission whose work was approved in a city-wide election in June 1960. The 1960 charter replaced the charter adopted in 1931 at the time Kilgore was incorporated.

Mr. Stembridge graduated from Gilmer High School and Tyler Commercial College in the mid-1930s. He began his association with the petroleum industry and public accounting on Jan. 1, 1936, when he went to work for the Texas Canadian Oil Corporation in the People's Bank building in Tyler.

In June 1943 he moved to Kilgore with the company whose offices were located on Stone Road at the site of today's City National Bank. From 1951-1956 Mr. Stembridge was an executive and partner in the Southland Corporation, then Mississippi's only oil refiner.

In 1956 he returned to Kilgore and opened a public accounting office, which he maintained until 1984 when he helped found SW Operating Inc., an East Texas exploration company. During his accounting career, he performed tax services for many Kilgorites and many small firms of Kilgore's business community.

Mr. Stembridge was an active participant in many civic ventures. He was a board member of the Kilgore Chamber of Commerce. He was a leader of the 1959 "clean-up campaign" in Kilgore. A member of the Kilgore Rotary Club, he served as secretary for 20 years and maintained a perfect attendance record. For over 60 years he was a Master Mason, being a member of Kilgore's Danville Lodge. A longtime member of the Kilgore Presbyterian Church, he served as a deacon and elder.

He was married on Oct. 18, 1935, in Tyler to Ruth Ann Bradberry, who died in 1994.

His parents were Henry Reese Stembridge, born in Georgia, and Sarah Sneed of New Birmingham in Smith County, Texas. He was the youngest of six children, now all deceased.

Survivors include a son, Terry Stembridge Sr. of Kilgore; a daughter and son-in-law, Merridonna and Stephen Thompson of Tyler. Grandsons are Terry Stembridge Jr. of Fort Worth, Bryan Bosley of Abilene, and Lane Bosley of Tyler, whose family includes wife Kathy and children Kagan, Kallie and Kyndall. Several nieces and nephews survive.

Other family members are Cheryl Halla of Kilgore, and Jimmie Sunshine Halla of Fort Worth.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Saturday Bread Fund of the First Presbyterian Church of Kilgore, P.O. Box 1216, Kilgore, 75663; or the Gregg Home for the Aged, 144 FM 1252 West, Kilgore, 75662.