Robert Gadsden Jenkins

Robert Gadsden Jenkins, 88, passed away on Sunday morning, July 25, 2021 after battling Lewy body dementia. He was a lifelong Episcopalian and we are comforted in knowing he will spend eternity in heaven with his wife of 52 years Ann “Annie” Jenkins who passed away in 2015, along with all his immediate and extended family of saints who have gone before him. Robert/Bob, or “Bobby” as he was known in his youth, was born on May 29, 1933 in Shreveport, LA. His parents were Vera Walker and Thomas Gadsden Jenkins and they resided with his older sister Betty Jane “BeJe” at the Walker family estate in Jefferson, Texas until they moved to Midland, Texas his junior year. After graduating from Midland High School in 1951, he attended Texas Tech University. He obtained his BA in Finance even though his college years were interrupted with a draft into the US Army, stationed in Fairbanks, Alaska. After graduation, he started his first job as a bank examiner for the Federal Reserve beginning a lengthy career in banking. After his own mother Vera lost her battle to cancer while he was finishing his degree at Texas Tech, his father remarried, and it was his stepmother’s sister who arranged a blind date with Mary Ann Martin. They were married on June 8, 1963 in Midland, and were blessed with two daughters, Alison DeAnn and Andrea Leigh. Ann and Bob lived most of their life in Dallas, Texas. In later years, they traveled Texas extensively and moved to Gonzales, Kerrville, Midland, Tyler, Mertzon, and eventually to San Angelo. Robert is survived by oldest daughter Alison Montgomery Gryder and her husband Doug of Mertzon, and younger daughter Andrea Meeks and husband Don of Monahans, Texas. He was very proud that both his daughters are life-long elementary school teachers. His grandchildren called him “Grandad” and include Martin Jay Montgomery (Bridget) of Tyler, Carrie Elizabeth Meeks of Monahans, Michele Jane Montgomery of Dallas, and Robert Daniel Meeks of Monahans. He is also survived by his wife Ann’s sister Sudie Martin Foster and her husband Steve of Belton, Texas and their children Amy , Anna, Christian, Christian’s husband Chester and children Caty Beth and Colton. His sister Betty Jane’s family in the Austin area was also very near and dear to his heart and includes niece Kimberley Oliver and her husband Bob and daughter Nikki, and nephew Glen Oliver and his wife Margie and sons Teddy and David. Robert loved his sister BeJe’s husband Chad Oliver like a brother and was proud of the fact that Chad was an accomplished science fiction and western novel writer with dozens of published works, and also a former Dean of the College of Anthropology at UT in Austin. Dad was just as much a Longhorn fan as he was a Red Raider fan. Dad was an avid fan of the Dallas Cowboys and the Texas Rangers. His daughters received their love of football from him and describes their father as “a walking Dallas Cowboy encyclopedia”. Dad also enjoyed gardening and watching movies with Mom, playing tennis, reading, and spending time with his children and grandchildren. Dad is also survived by his faithful and lifelong friends Gary Allison of Houston, Texas, whom he traveled with on a month long trip to Europe after mom’s passing, and Lois Ann Rosenfield whom dad met while in school in Jefferson; their phone calls continually kept him laughing and reminiscing. More recently, Bob enjoyed his First United Methodist family in Mertzon and often participated in the service by reading the scriptures. During the last several months of his life he also loved Paulina Herrera like a daughter. We are forever grateful for her help taking care of him in his last hours and days. Thank you also to the staff of Rio Concho Manor, San Angelo Nursing and Rehabilitation and Kindred Hospice for your kindness and care as well. Memorials can be made in his name to any of the aforementioned, as well as to the American Heart Association and the American Cancer Society, since Dad volunteered and often organized charity events for the AHA and ACS while in Dallas. Dad will be remembered for his perseverance, work ethic, and his kind nature. Graveside services will be held privately near the wedding anniversary of Bob and Ann next June 2022 where their ashes will be combined and laid to rest in his Walker family plot at the historic Oakwood Cemetery in Jefferson alongside his parents and beloved grandparents, aunts and uncles and other extended cherished family that all went before him. Their service will include mom and dad’s favorite gospel song “I Bowed On My Knees And Cried Holy: I dreamed of a city called Glory, So bright and so fair. When I entered that gate I cried holy; The angels all met me there: They carried me from mansion to mansion, And oh what sites I saw. But I said, "I want to see Jesus, He's the One who died for all." Then I bowed on my knees and cried, "Holy, (holy) holy, (holy) holy." Then I clapped my hands and sang, "Glory, Glory to the Son of God." I thought as I entered that city, My friends all knew me well. They showed me the streets of heaven; Such scenes too numerous to tell; I saw Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Mark, Luke and Timothy. But I said, "I want to see Jesus, He's the One who died for me." Revelation 21:4 “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”