Frankston Area Obituaries — 1999-Present

Here are the obituaries posted for the current month from information provided courtesy of local and area funeral homes and published on their websites or those submitted by families. If an obituary is overlooked and it is desired that it be posted, please inform us at frankstondepotlibrary@gmail.com . Families may request changes or additions, if required. If you have an obituary for a person who has connections with someone or some family in the Frankston-Poynor-LaRue or Lake Palestine area that you want posted to this month or to the archives, and is not currently posted, please let us know at frankstondepotlibrary@gmail.com . Obituaries selected or submitted should follow a format which is essentially consistent with other obituaries posted here or by funeral homes and follow standard grammatical style. Through arrangements with funeral homes and/or the families, we will publish pictures with current obituaries. We will add pictures to archived obituaries from the print version of The Citizen newspaper prior to September 2019 when available. Pictures with archived obituaries posted after that will be added in cooperation with funeral homes or on requests from families.  As was the tradition of the Citizen newspaper, obituaries are published at no charge.

(Obituaries listed chronologically by date of death or funeral service.)

Sandra Baxter

Graveside services for Sandra Baxter, 63, of Frankston, were held Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2012, in the Balentine Family Cemetery in Frankston with the Rev. George Folmar and the Rev. Doug Howell officiating.

Mrs. Baxter passed away Saturday, September 15, 2012, in Tyler.

She was born August 19, 1949, in Dallas.

Mrs. Baxter was a retired school teacher in the Frankston Independent School District.

She was preceded in death by her father Howard E. Balentine, brothers Michael Clyde Smith and Tommy Frank Smith.

Survivors include her husband Allan Baxter; daughter Shannon Kaye Pittman of Frankston; sons Jeffery McCarty of Merchison and Robert Baxter of Canton; mother Frances Balentine;  sister Linda Gayle Mascorro both of Frankston; grandsons Kelton Lee Baxter and Matthew Allan Pittman; granddaughter Adrianna Marie Baxter; and great grandchildren Braylon, Kayanna, Keymani, and Keyani.

Katie Mattern

Services for Katie Mattern, 84, of Palestine were to be held Thursday, Sept. 20, at Christ Community Church with the Rev. Clint Bass and the Rev. J.A. Griffin officiating.

Burial was to follow in Liberty Hill Cemetery in Frankston. Arrangements were under the direction of Bailey & Foster Funeral Home in Palestine.

Mrs. Mattern died Saturday at her residence. She was born December 28, 1927, in Anderson County to Houston Virgle and Diccie Elizabeth Clakley Shugart.

Mrs. Mattern was a homemaker and a member of the Christ Community Church.

Mrs. Mattern was preceded in death by her parents; husbands, George Truitt Adams, Dick Perry and Philip Mattern; a daughter Jeannie Litchfield; sisters Virgie Dunlap, Marie Shuttlesworth, Nancy Morton, and Sharon Laughlan; brothers James Ray Shugart, Herbert Shugart, and H.B. Shugart.

She is survived by her daughters Brenda Kay Gross of Tennessee Colony, and Linda Fay Manker of Palestine; a son Ty Cobble of Palestine; sisters Catherine Mullen of Little Rock, AR., and Carolyn Ann Southard of Maydell, 14 grandchildren, and 17 great grandchildren.

Pallbearers were to be Michael Kimbrough, Floyd Dunlap, Carroll Mewbourn, Billy Joe Warren, Jeremy Beck and Ted Manker.

To view online, leave condolences or sign the guest book persons may go to www.baileyandfosterfuneralhome.com ..

Bennie Ruth Douglas

Bennie Ruth Douglas (Aug. 21, 1927 to Sept. 17, 2012) was born to Emma Jewell Costlow and Benjamin Franklin Douglas and raised in Poynor.  

She is preceded in death by her parents and five older brothers, Willie, Maxie, Cecil, ‘Son’ and an infant. Bennie suffered from mantle cell lymphoma and COPD, from which she succumbed on Sept. 17, 2012.

The first of her family to attend college, she studied at Lon Morris College in Jacksonville and graduated from University of Texas in Austin, attaining her teaching certification at East Texas Teacher’s College in Commerce.  

Not yet 20, she was teaching English to seniors barely younger than she. For 30 years, she urged and inspired with her dedication and inquiring mind.

In 1947, she married Stone Haynes with whom she had three children to whom she was devoted. Divorced in 1962, she moved to Tyler, where she taught English and American Literature at Moore Junior High.

After retiring, Bennie traveled extensively throughout America and Europe while living quietly on her small farm in Poynor surrounded by serene views and the love and laughter of family and friends.

In 1975, she wrote and self-published Melody of Poynor: A History, a book recounting the history of the area, which included anecdotes gleaned from interviews with local personalities.

Bennie was valued, loved and immeasurably important as a guiding light of integrity, honor and fairness to all who knew and loved her.  Her reassuring presence, wisdom and humor will be missed but her legacy remains as a beacon of goodness and example of a life well lived.

She leaves three children Linda Haynes Landsidle of Los Gatos, Calif., Barbara Dianne Haynes Smith of Poynor, Benjamin Stone Haynes of Poynor; eight grandchildren; seven great grandchildren and numerous extended family members and friends.

A Memorial Service was held at Autry Funeral Home in Frankston on Friday, Sept. 21.

The family requests that donations be made in the name of Bennie Ruth Douglas (Pickle) benefiting The Hospice of East Texas, 4111 University Boulevard, Tyler, TX  75701.

(Obituaries posted contain information posted by funeral homes and/or families. Families may request changes or additions, if appropriate or required.).