Rhoda LaVere Black

Rhoda LaVere Black, most recently of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, passed from this life June 25, 2020, at 11:30 p.m. in her apartment at Baptist Village Assisted Living Center. Visitation and the funeral service will be held Thursday, July 2, 2020, at LaGrone Blackburn Shaw Funeral Chapel at 1505 Martin Road, Amarillo, Texas. Visitation will be at 9:30 a.m. and the funeral service will be at 10:30 a.m. Interment will follow at Memorial Park on I-40 East.

Mrs. Black was born March 18, 1924, and grew up in Childress, Texas. She attended Hardin Simmons University in Abilene, Texas, where she met a young soldier, Fay Tom Black, from Perry County, Arkansas. The two were married on August 8, 1942, and celebrated their thirty-eighth wedding anniversary before Fay Tom passed away with cancer in November 1980. Rhoda continued to work as a Postal Clerk for the US Post Office until her retirement in 1996.

Rhoda grew up attending First Baptist Church, Childress, with her mother. Rhoda and Fay Tom were always faithful church members. In Amarillo, they were members of San Jacinto Baptist and Hilcrest Baptist before finding a home at Second Baptist Church, where she is still a member. When she moved to Oklahoma City she attended Church at the Village (Baptist), but always considered Second Baptist her church home.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Fay Tom; a daughter-in-law, Mrs. Tom (Beverly) Black; a grandson, Dayton Black; and many of the family and friends of her generation.

She is survived by her children, Tom of Cassville, MO; Richard and wife Cathy of Waco, TX; Harry and wife Ivetta of Oklahoma City, OK; and D’Ann of Waco, TX; grandchildren, Alan and wife Tessa, John, Jean Taylor and husband Scott, Amy Horne and husband Scott, Shadrach and wife Melissa, and Matthan and wife Kate; sixteen great-grandchildren, and two great-great-grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Adams Fund Oklahoma City, which helps residents who outlive their money, at Baptist Village Communities, 3800 N. May Avenue, Oklahoma City, OK 73112, or online at https://www.baptistvillage.org/donate/.