Herald Democrat
November 17, 2008

Our husband and father, Bobby Glen Stanley, left his family and friends on Nov. 15, 2008, after a lengthy battle with cancer. He was born June 21, 1936, the eldest of nine children, to Alvin Lee and Coy Lea McHone Stanley in Bells. He was 72 years old.
Bob grew up and attended schools in the Bells, Ida, and Howe area. From the age of 6, he helped his father farm while attending school. At the age of 15, he left school and entered the work force. Except for four years, he was self-employed until he retired in 2005. During retirement, one could find him on his front porch, handing out a cup of coffee and "guidance" to those who stopped by.
In 1953, he went to work for Willie Houston, whom he considered the one most influential person in his life, at the Humble station on the corner of Willow and Lamar until he purchased the station in 1955 at the age of 19. A second station was purchased shortly after. In the 1960s, Bob sold the gas stations and worked as an independent residential contractor in the Sherman area, hauling gravel on the side. In the mid-1970s, he began leasing semi-trucks to Hilson Steel in Durant, Okla., until he decided to open his own steel company, Discount Steel Company in Calera, Oklahoma. During this time, he also began his own portable toilet business, AAA Little John, and continued his contractor work in the metal building industry. Eventually, he sold the steel company and returned to contracting for the Choctaw Nations until he retired.
He was a lifetime member of VFW in Sherman. He was also a lifetime member of the Sherman Elks Lodge, and served one term on the board of directors. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, he was a member of the Lions Club and the Sherman Jaycees.
He married Judy Wright, of Mesquite, on Aug. 14, 1984 in Sherman. In 24 years of marriage, they raised two children and guided four more through the challenges of early adulthood.
He loved to travel the states in his motor home with Judy and their friends. He preferred to spend winters in the warmer states and the hot Texas summers in the North. During the spring and early summer, he enjoyed taking his children and grandchildren to the lake for camping and boating; and enjoyed long trips on his motorcycle.
Bob will be remembered most by his family as a man of integrity, ambition, and ingenuity, who was deeply devoted to his family. He saw it as his duty to bring pride and honor to his family name, and expected the same of others. He believed that the measure of a man lay in his willingness to work and care for his children, and that a man was only as good as his word. He is treasured for the high priority he placed on his role as a father, and his uncanny ability to be his children's best friend. He was a highly sociable and generous man who never failed to help someone in need, whether it be financially, by contribution of his skills, or by his infamous and often predictable '"guidance."
Bob is survived by his devoted wife, Judy Stanley of Sherman; his children, Connie Stanley of Sherman, Johnny Stanley of Sherman, Ronny Stanley and wife, Melissa of Rogers, Ark., Terry Stanley of Lexington, Okla., Deborah Stanley of Commerce, and Leigh Anne Edwards of Sherman. He is survived by 14 grandchildren: Shawn Allen of Texarkana; Aaron Stanley and Darrin Stanley of Sherman; Christopher Stanley and Christina Stanley of Denison; and their siblings, Billy Monk and Tiffany Stanley, of Rogers, Ark., Terry Parsons of Georgia, and his brother, Brian Stanley of Sherman, Bobby Stanley and Casey Stanley of Sherman, and their brother, Chase Williams of Commerce, and Tessa Thorne and Kelsey Thorne of Sherman. He has 14 great-grandchildren. He is also survived by siblings, Jimmy Stanley and wife Kathy of Bonham, Billy Stanley and wife Robbie of Sherman,Jerry Stanley of Van Alstyne, Shirley Quinn of Wilburton, Okla., Bertha Stanley of Amarillo and Sheila Stanley of Pottsboro, and 23 nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents, A.L. Stanley and Coy Lea Farris; his brother, Frank Stanley and wife, Dottie of Bonham, and his sister Mary Stanley of Amarillo. Dear friends who will travel without him now are Nolan and Wilma Young of Oklahoma City, Okla., Clyde and Nancy Williams of Stringtown, Okla., Luke and Faye Darnell of Sherman, and Lee and Nancy Atkins of Eerie, Mich.
The family will welcome visitors from 7 -9 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 17, and then celebrate their time with him at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 18, both at Waldo Funeral Home. He will be carried to his final resting place next to three other generations of Stanley family at Washburn Cemetery in the loving arms of his sons, Johnny and Ronny Stanley; his grandsons, Bobby, Casey, and Christopher Stanley, and his brother-in-law, Tommy Rice.