Belle Matlock

Funeral services for Belle Matlock, 91, of Rusk, will be at 10 a.m., Saturday, Jan. 4, 2020, at Memorial Missionary Baptist Church, Rusk, under the direction of Wallace-Thompson Funeral Home with Bro. Odis Bryan and Bro. Don Copeland officiating. Burial will follow at Hugh Wilson Cemetery, Tanglewood, Texas, at 3 p.m., Saturday. Visitation will be 9 a.m. until service time.

She passed into God’s hands gently and peacefully Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2020, after months of courageously fighting to overcome injuries suffered in a car accident. She was born Sept. 21, 1928, in Lee County, Texas, to the late Lonnie and Mamie Wilhite.

She was an active member of Memorial Missionary Baptist Church and was a member of the Cherokee County Memorial VFW Ladies Auxiliary that used to meet in Rusk. She also volunteered at the Arbors Nursing Home calling Bingo. She enjoyed gardening and loved birdwatching.

She is preceded in death by her parents,; husband, Earl Matlock; son, Dennis Matlock; and brothers, Elmo Wilhite and Rusty Wilhite.

She is survived by her daughters, Melisa Matlock of Rusk and Lana and her husband Rickey Copeland of Dallas; sons, Melvin and his wife Erin Matlock of Schertz and Don and his wife Hope Matlock of Allen; grandchildren, Michael Curl, Hayden Curl, Brandon and Dani Copeland, Trenton and Annie Copeland, Christine and Shay Wester, Mark and Jennifer Matlock, Lauren Matlock, Heather and Craig McCue, Daniel and Ashley Matlock, Alison and Cody Tyson; 14 great-grandchildren with three on the way; and her sister, Dorothy and her husband Jerry Crowder of Olympia, Wash.

Pallbearers will be her grandsons.