Herman L. Childress (Seymour)'s Obituary
Herman L. Childress, age 94 of Branson, MO passed away peacefully Saturday, July 12, 2014 at Point Lookout Rehabilitation and Nursing Center.
Herman was born January 5, 1920 on his mother’s birthday. He was the seventh of ten children. His parents were Robert Blaine and Mattie Julian Childress. His birthplace was the Childress Farm near Seymour.
He married Kathleen J. Marler in 1941. The marriage produced two sons. In 1960 he married the widow Ada J. Whitaker who had three daughters.
Herman graduated from Seymour High School in 1938 and attended Southwest Missouri State Teacher’s College (now Missouri State University) for two years before transferring to the University of Missouri and graduating in 1943 with a B.A. in Agriculture. He worked with farmers teaching all aspects of farming including how to rotate crops to increase production and to stem erosion by terracing slopes. His career culminated as Director of the Agriculture Stabilization, & Conservation Commission for the western half of the state of Missouri. Eventually, the constant travel did not agree with him so he retired, purchased his birthplace farm and began raising registered Black Angus cattle. As neighboring land to the farm became available he purchased it until the farm doubled in size to 610 acres. He later traded the farm (using IRS 1031 exchange) for a large apartment complex in Springfield. He became a real estate broker and briefly owned the Childress Realty company. He owned rental properties in Seymour and prepared income taxes for many years.
In 1949 he sold a 40 acre farm and moved to town where he built a new home and lived there until 1964. In 1963 he began building another home that he owned until his death. He used lumber from his birthplace farm to build the house using hardwoods such as cherry, walnut, oak, ash, and cedar lining for the closets. The flooring is oak with drilled pegs. The home was celebrated in news articles as the first Gold Medalion all electric home in Seymour with radiant heat from coils hidden in the ceiling. Each room had a thermostat.
Herman always thought of Seymour as his true home. He considered Branson a great place to vacation even though his vacation lasted twenty years.
His passion was jig dancing and square dancing. He and Ada had matching square dancing outfits and danced up a storm for many years until she passed away. In time, he met a lady that loved to round dance so he learned to round dance and taught her to square dance and jig. From that point on they could dance to any type of music.
Herman loved gardening and eating fresh produce. Ada was an award winning cook and loved to prepare a great variety of meals. Herman and Ada were made for each other. One loved to cook complex meals and the other immensely loved to eat them. Herman enjoyed foods from all over the world. His best day was when he tasted a new dish for the very first time. He always said, “I like all cuisines both simple and fancy.” In the late 1940’s he and Doc Tochen learned of a restaurant in Springfield that served pizza. They drove to the restaurant and ate every pizza listed on the menu. It took three hours to accomplish the feat.
He was a lifelong member of the Hazelwood Masonic Lodge #459 of Seymour. If there was one thing he liked better than eating, it was attending meetings. He belonged to the Lion’s club, numerous other organizations, and later in life became a Silver Haired Legislator representing senior citizens. He attended the First Baptist Church in Seymour and the Cowboy Church in Branson. At the Cowboy Church he could both pray and jig dance in the aisle.
Herman was preceded in death by his parents, his devoted wife of 36 years, Ada Criswell Childress, his son J. Phillip Childress, his step-daughters Donna Jean Galena, and Selma Culver, grandchildren Christy Childress, A.J. Childress, and Joy Childress, his brothers, Lewis Childress, Wade Childress, & Blaine Childress, and sisters Maida Curfman, Roberta Carr, Ruby Hargus, & Leota Galien.
Herman leaves a son, Gary Childress, a step-daughter Karen Lucore, grandchildren Shelly, Shane, Dala, Mathew, Don, Stephen, Pam, Barbara, & Brenda, and many great-grandchildren; two sisters, Louise Gault and Lora Collins and husband Richard; nieces, nephews, cousins, friends, and neighbors.
We celebrate his life and accomplishments and the legacy he leaves behind.
The Childress family respectively requests memorial donations be made in Herman’s honor to the Hazelwood Masonic Lodge #459 in Seymour, MO.
Masonic Service will be performed at 1:45pm.
What’s your fondest memory of Herman?
What’s a lesson you learned from Herman?
Share a story where Herman's kindness touched your heart.
Describe a day with Herman you’ll never forget.
How did Herman make you smile?
