Wretha Charlene Black

Wretha Charlene Black, of Groesbeck, passed away at Baylor Scott and White Hillcrest in Waco, surrounded by family, on Wednesday, June 22, 2022, at age 79.

Funeral services were held on Friday, June 24 in the Groesbeck Funeral Home Chapel, with Reverend Brandon Frenzel of the First Methodist Church of Waco officiating. Music was provided by vocalist Rick Smith and piano and vocals by Elizabeth Franklin. Burial followed in Union Cemetery (Freestone County).

Serving as pallbearers were David Burkeen, Carl (Sonny) Young, Chris Young, Ricard Cox, Ronald Crane, and Ronnie Ferguson. Raymond Latham was honorary pallbearer.

Charlene was born November 28, 1942, to Carl Romalice Young and Julia Irene (Lummus) Young in Donie, the sixth of nine children and the youngest of the girls. She grew up in the Fair Oaks (Thiefneck) community, and attended school in Fair Oaks and then Groesbeck, where she graduated from high school.

After she graduated, Charlene worked at a variety of short-term jobs, including the furniture factory and the telephone company in Mexia. She met her future husband Wilburne at a dance at Fort Parker.

Charlene and Wilburne ONeal Black were united in marriage on May 26, 1967 in Houston. They lived in Galena Park and while she was raising her children, she also worked at NASA and at Elington AFB as a switchboard operator. She worked night shifts to switch the child-care duties with Wilburne, spending only breakfast together during that time, and then worked at the school tax office. She took a job with the Groesbeck ISD tax office and the family moved back home to Personville in 1984.

Charlene worked at the tax office in the Groesbeck courthouse basement until the school tax offices were combined in the county tax office. She semi-retired a few years to keep and play with her grandbaby. Then she went back to work as a tax deputy for Barbara Rader until Barbara retired. Then Charlene ran for the office and was elected the Limestone County Tax Assessor Collector, where she served until her retirement when she was 70, in 2012.

Charlene was naturally mechanically inclined and enjoyed figuring out how things worked. She was the “go to” person for her kids, brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews, and even friends, for problem solving of any type.

She loved to read. She sewed for her kids and upholstered her furniture. Charlene enjoyed playing games, and she “WAS” going to win. Her home in Personville became the gathering place for the family, with Polly and Turk living just across the yard, and the family was always together. She especially loved her grandbabies.

As her health declined, especially after Covid in February, she was not eager to leave the family she loved here, but she was ready to be relieved of her pain and be reunited with her husband Wilburne and the rest of the family who had gone before and were waiting for her “at home.”

Charlene was preceded in death by her parents; her husband Wilburne Black in 2007; all her siblings – Arnold “Red” Young, Mildred Aline Burkeen, Wanda Faye Latham, Carl D. “Turk” Young, Cecil “Butch” Young, Kenneth “Buster” Young, Gene “Geney” Wayne Young, and Pauline “Polly” Young (2019); and also her brother-in-law, Raymond Bartley Latham; sister-in-law, Freda “Cookie” Gremminger; and sister-in-law, Helen Young. Also passing away before her were grandson, Ethan Thompson (2019); and many nieces and nephews, and other members of her and Wilburne’s families.

She is survived by her son and daughter-in-law, Jason and Sarah Black of Arlington; and two daughters and sons-in-law, Paula and Michael Thompson of Woodway and Regina and Roger Wilcox of Hewitt; grandchildren, Ashton and husband Mikeal Wyatt of Lorena, Emily Thompson of Woodway, and Ian and wife Justine Wilcox of Odessa; and 3 great grandchildren, Hazel Charlene Wyatt, Harrison Cole Wyatt, and Addilyn Taylor Wilcox; and also many nieces and nephews and other extended family.

MOM, by Jason Black

Blonde hair and the bluest eyes,

Are now soaring high in heaven’s skies.

A heart with love that knew no bounds,

Her soul’s rhythm is now an eternal sound.

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