Elree Gandy

Elree Harace Gandy was born on December 28,1923 to Richard Horace and Nannie Bell Williams Gandy in Caddo, Texas. He was the last surviving sibling of 12 children. Mr. Gandy passed away on July 27,2016 at the Good Samaritan Betty Dare Center in Alamogordo, New Mexico at the age of 92 after a brief illness.

The family moved to a farm east of Bledsoe, Texas in 1926 when Elree was 3 years old. He graduated from Prairieview School in New Mexico in 1942.
Elree's first job was with the Cochran County road maintenance department. He then went to work at the Hobbs Army Airfield during World War II. Later he moved to Levelland, Texas where he received his barber's license and worked in a shop on the north side of the square in Levelland. After that he got a job with General Dynamics in Fort Worth, Texas. While there he was offered an oilfield job with Southern Production, which led him to be transferred in many small Texas towns. In 1957, he left working in the oilfield to move back to Bledsoe, TX where he started farming. Circumstances caused him to leave Bledsoe and he began working in the oilfield again around the Lea County area. He finally retired from the oilfield in 1970 and he went back to Bledsoe, Texas and farmed until his final retirement in 1996. Then he moved to Ruidoso, NM.

He met and married his wife Thena Clarke on September 26, 2010 and they made their home in Ruidoso.
Elree was a very hardworking man who always provided for his family. He loved to dance and visit with people. He was a member of the Bledsoe Baptist Church in Bledsoe, TX where he was baptized in a stock tank north of town in 1941. He was also a member of the Bledsoe school board for many years.

He is survived by his wife Thena and four children: son, Randall Gandy and wife Joyce of Lovington, NM; daughter Roxie Imhoff of Lubbock, TX; daughter Michelle and husband Stacey Dunn of Bledsoe, TX and son, Jonathan Gandy and wife Melinda of Whiteface, Texas; 10 grandchildren and 15 great grandchildren.

Graveside services will be held on Saturday, August 6, 2016 at 10:00 am MST at the Tatum Cemetery in Tatum, NM.