 West Hill Cemetery Sherman, Texas Express-News July 12, 2012 Mary Grace Moffett Vehl, a longtime resident of her native Sherman, Texas, and of San Antonio since 1972, was welcomed in Heaven on Monday at the age of 93. She was a loving and devoted wife who left a legacy as a positive force at work in the lives of many people whom she led to trust in Jesus Christ and who now have opportunities to lead others to Him. An only child born the day after Christmas in 1918 to Sadie Shepherd Smith Moffett and Howard Dunham Moffett, Mary attended Sherman High School and graduated in 1936. Two decades later, on the day after Christmas in 1957, Mary and Otto M. Vehl were married in Durant, Oklahoma. The couple formed iMPACT! Advertising & Public Relations Co., handling accounts for several North Texas firms. They also published the Weekly Interceptor for Perrin Air Force Base and 2 monthly magazines, All Outdoors and Reserve Law. Mary was active in the Grayson County Historical Survey Committee and authored a number of Texas Historical Markers. In the mid-1960s she led a campain to prevent the razing of the 1850s-era Nettie Bass House, Sherman's oldest extant home and the first home in Grayson County with window glass. Enlisting others, she raised enough money to have the home painstakingly disassembled so it could be restored elsewhere. The home is now the centerpiece of historic structures at what is now known as Frontier Village at Loy Lake Park, just north of Sherman. Mary also was a knowledgeable and enthusiastic collector of buttons and served as president of the Red River Valley Button Society. With encouragement from Dr. Tom Brandon, the Vehles' pastor at First Baptist Church of Sherman, Mary and Otto became Lay Volunteers for Campus Crusade for Christ, and they began teaching others all over Texas how to share their faith. Mary made witnessing for Jesus a way of life and discovered early in her ministry that anytime you are with someone for 3 minutes and you don't know why, it is probably a divine appointment. She shared her faith anywhere, anytime. In 1972 they moved to San Antonio and made Castle Hills First Baptist their new church home. There, Mary helped conduct classes to equip prayer warriors to take telephone calls in the 24-hour Prayer Chapel. On December 26, 1980, feeling led to do so because they were not Christians when they first married, Mary and Otto had a second wedding ceremony, conducted by Dr. George H. Harris, with their original rings melted down together and recast into new rings. The couple marked 50 years of happiness together in 2007, a glorious celebration that took place at the church among dozens of friends and family. Mary is survived by her caring husband, Otto; her daughter, Martha Rivers of McKinney, Texas; 3 grandchildren, Karen Ramseur and husband, Patterson, of Dallas; Clay Reeves of San Antonio; and Dr. Brenda Kastner of Denver, Colorado; and 4 great-grandchildren, Connor, Chloe, and Logan Kastner and Jessica Egnatovich of Denver. Mary's family and friends celebrated her new life in Heaven at 4 p.m. Sunday, July 15, 2012, at Castle Hills Baptist Church in San Antonio.   The Herald Democrat May 13-14, 2014 Sherman - Otto Mitchell Vehle, a faithful servant of the Lord for many decades, was called home May 5, 2014 at the age of 92. There, he was reunited with his wife, who had been patiently and lovingly waiting for him for nearly 2 years. "Buddy" - who was indeed a buddy to may people - lived a life of service until his very last days. He served his communities, he served his nation, and he served his church and his Lord. Otto was born March 16, 1922 in Sherman, Texas, which was his home base for 50 years. He became a licensed pilot while still attending Sherman High School and earned his commercial license in 1940. He was performing stunts in a North Texas air show on December 7, 1941, when Pearl Harbor was attacked. He joined the Civil Air Patrol, the first of many auxiliary forces he would play. In 1942, Otto received a direct commission as a second lieutenant and was assigned to the 5th Ferrying Group. Later stationed in North Africa, he would ultimately serve in all theaters of operation. After the war, he served in the Air Force Reserve until 1965, having achieved the rank of Major. His marriage to Martha Louise Halliday gave him 2 children, a girl and a boy, and he later would marry Mary Grace Moffett, who had a grown daughter. Otto's postwar career fields were as varied as his wartime assignments, earning him recognition in commercial land development, advertising and public relations, television production and security and volunteer law enforcement. He was a national director of the Reserve Law Officers Association of America, which began as a Texas organization that lobbied the Legislature for volunteer peace officers who wished to carry weapons. He also was editor of the association's magazine, Reserve Law. Otto had been serving as chief of Sherman's auxiliary police force in 1972 when he and Mary left their beloved hometown for San Antonio, Texas, where Otto served the Bexar County Sheriff Support Division for several years before transferring to the county's Precinct 3 Constable's Office, and later to Precinct 4. At Castle Hills First Baptist Church, he was involved in its television ministry for many years and later directed the church's security team. In November 2013, when Otto was 91, the church honored his decades of service and bestowed on him the first ever title of Director of Security Emeritus. In addition to his sister, Louise Prather, of Allentown, Pennsylvania, Otto is survived by his children, Vicki Smith and husband, former Sherif, J.B. Smith, of Tyler, Texas; Mitch Murray of McKinney; and Marti Rivers of San Antonio, along with numerous grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and other special relatives. A memorial celebration was held Thursday afternoon at the Castle Hills First Baptist Church in San Antonio, Texas. His earthly remains, along with those of Mary, were later interred in West Hill Cemetery in Sherman, Texas. Arrangements were under the direction of Porter Loring Mortuary, north of San Antonio. West Hill Cemetery Elaine Nall Bay ©2019 If you find any of Grayson County TXGenWeb links inoperable, please send me a message. |