H.C. “SHORTY” LATHROP

SHELDON- Services will be held at 10 a.m. Tuesday at Daniel Funeral Home in Lamar for Homer Charles “Shorty” Lathrop, 88, Sheldon, who died Friday, Oct. 13, 2017, at his home. Burial will follow in Sheldon Cemetery.

Visitation will be held from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Monday, at the funeral home.

Contributions are suggested to Sheldon Cemetery Association, in care of the funeral home.

Condolences may be shared at www.danielfuneralhome.net.

Survivors include his wife, Betty; three sons, Gene Lathrop and wife Sandy, Lamar, J.D. Lathrop and wife Cindy, Nevada and Charles Lathrop and wife Angie, Irwin; two daughters, Barbara Thrasher and husband David, Lamar and Kathy Clampett and husband Robert, Statesboro, Ga.; grandchildren, Ronnie, Lana, Lance, Skyler, Travis, Kyle, Phil, Brent, Tai and Donovan; 22 great-grandchildren; three great-great-grandchildren; one sister, Marilyn Bond, Sheldon and a host of nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by four brothers, Jack, Hank, Nick and Gene Lathrop; four sisters, Dorothy Leavell, Olene Kepler, Lois Swan and Shirley Windes and a grandson, Donald Gene Lathrop.

Mr. Lathrop was born Aug. 2, 1929, on the family farm southeast of Sheldon, to Homer R. and Marguerite (Mallory) Lathrop. He attended Rockdale Country School.

As a boy he worked alongside his father and brothers on the family farm and built bridges in Barton and Vernon counties. In his late teens he went to Colorado with his brothers to follow the wheat harvest. He entered the Army during the Korean War and served as an amphibious tank driver, stationed in Ft. Eustice, Va. and Norfolk, Va. He was honorably discharged in 1953. He remained in contact with all the “buddies” who left on the bus from Missouri and formed a forever bond with Virgil Gardner and Roy Simpson, cherishing their annual army buddy reunions in the fall.

He married Betty Jo Wilson of Bolivar on Nov. 14, 1951, in Bentonville, Ark. They have resided in the Sheldon area since that time, living on the county line for 59 years and since 1976 in the home he built. They would be celebrating their 66th anniversary this November. To this union five children were born.

Mr. Lathrop continued farming throughout his life in the Sheldon area, first with his brothers Nick and Gene, and later with his sons. He worked for Texaco City Service Pipeline, Hubert Thomas APCO Station and purchased the business in 1969, continuing to own and operate it until selling to his nephew, Gary Leavell, in 1971. In 1971 he began installing rural water lines with his brother Gene for several years. In 1977, he and his brother Gene purchased what became the Sheldon Vault Company. He has maintained the Sheldon Cemetery for over 40 years, all while continuing to raise Angus cattle and grow wheat, soybeans and corn and bail hay.

He accepted Jesus as his Savior in 1961 and was a member of the Sheldon Baptist Church and later Lamar First Baptist Church, where he enjoyed the fellowship of the Fisherman’s Sunday School Class.