HENRY LEROY BASKIN, SR., 63, died Sept. 22,
1956, with burial at Sunset Memorial Gardens in
Odessa, TX.
He was born near Gorman on Jan. 19, 1893 to James
Willis & Sarah Jeanette Bennett Baskin. He was
principal and math teacher at Cooper Elementary
School in the 30s at Ranger, TX. He later moved
to Dean of Ranger Jr. College. He married Myrtle
Louise Clements (1895-1936) who was killed in a tragic
train accident at Prairie Crossing in Ranger on Jan. 26,
1936. They had a daughter, Vashti Baskin (RHS-1930) &
twin sons; H.L. Baskin, Jr. & M.L. Baskin (both RHS-1939).
Mr. Baskin and four other educators started Odessa
College. The original building there, since then
demolished, was named Baskin Hall. After leaving
Ranger, he married the librarian of the Odessa Junior
College, Mattie V. McCuistion. They had a son, Roy
V. Baskin. He resides in Honaunau on the Big Island
of Hawaii and in Thailand, with his wife Wan Phen and
daughter Metavee Baskin. Their first daughter, Veta
Maurice Baskin only lived a year (1917–1918) and is
buried in Elm Cemetery, southwest of Gorman, TX.
Mattie V. Baskin was born in Jones County on Dec. 4,
1910 and passed away June 10, 2000 in Keauhou, Hawaii,
where she lived with her son on his farm in Honaunau
the last 6 years of her life. She was buried beside
her husband. She was a teacher and librarian and she
retired in Odessa in 1976. Both she and her husband
had taught for 43 years.
WIFE: MYRTLE LOUISE BASKIN, 40, wife of H.L. Baskin,
Principal of the Cooper School, were held in Ranger, TX,
with burial at Evergreen Cemetery in Ranger.
The church was packed to capacity with one of the largest
crowds to attend a funeral there in many years, people coming
from all over the county to attend. The floral arrangements
which were banked in profusion around the casket came from
friends not only in this county but from neighboring counties,
attesting to the popularity of the woman who passed away on
Jan. 26, 1936.
The decedent was born in DeLeon on Oct. 31, 1895, and had
lived in DeLeon and Gorman before coming to Ranger, TX several
years ago to make her home. She had been active in all school
and civic work.