Ethel Roper Roberts

Ethel Roper Roberts, 84, passed away peacefully into the arms of Jesus Saturday, May 24, 2014, in Houston, TX. This loving Christian wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and community servant was born in Wharton, TX, on December 7, 1929, to parents Ralph W. Roper and Ollie Felder Roper. Ethel married her true love and best friend, Charles B. Roberts, of Houston, TX, on July 3, 1953. Together they owned and operated Roberts Furniture Company in Houston from 1962 to 1989; after which, she retired to spend more time with her grandchildren. When Charles retired from Harris County in 1992, they moved to Wharton, TX. Ethel loved being a wife and mother foremost. She loved time at their beach house cooking the best shrimp gumbo ever and playing hostess to everyone until the card games and dominoes came out. She loved the years in their furniture store talking on the phone to every customer that became her best friend. She also loved traveling every summer throughout South Texas with their daughter to high school youth rodeo competitions. Additionally she loved sewing, gardening, traveling, cruising, and playing the slots, but her heart was at home when she was making joyful memories with her grandchildren. She was the best 'Nanny' ever. Ethel spent countless hours serving and having great times at the Houston Farm & Ranch Club, as a member of the Pump House Gang and in 1980 she became a member of the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo on the Ladies Season Box Committee, in which she became a Lifetime Committeeman in 2006. The HLS&R/Ladies Season Box Seat Committee honored her at a luncheon at The Petroleum Club in 1989 for having 'Top Box Sales' and 'Most New Boxes'. The Salt Grass Trail Ride was her favorite event of the year, when Charles was the Trail Boss and Ethel was surely the Social Chairman. She treasured her time with the cooks, offering up her expertise, always seasoned with tons of laughter. Ethel is survived by her devoted husband of 61 years, Charles Roberts. She was preceded in death by her son, Ferman Eugene Rash, Jr., and her granddaughter, Kara Zornes. She is survived by daughter Shirley 'Sam' Hoke; sisters Karen Roper and Rosie White; six grandchildren—Christopher, Tucker and Trelee Rash, Angele Kostroun, Jennifer Shortt, and Lin-Z Raney; and eight great-grandchildren—Dylan and Joshua Kostroun, Macie and Reed Shortt, Blake and Hanna Smith, and Brandon and Ashleigh Raney. A Memorial Service will be held Friday, May 30, 2014, at 1pm in the Chapel at Wharton Funeral Home with Rev. B. A. Turnage of Second Baptist Church, Houston, officiating. Interment will immediately follow at Evergreen Memorial Park Cemetery in Wharton. Pallbearers: Andy Hollingsworth, Christopher Rash, Dylan Kostroun, Joshua Kostroun, Mark Raney and Vaughn Shortt. In lieu of flowers, gifts may be made in memory of Ethel Roberts to the Houston Farm & Ranch Club, 1 Abercrombie Dr., Houston, TX, 77084 or Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo, P. O. Box 20070, Houston, TX 77225. Arrangements have been made under the direction of Wharton Funeral Home.