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Submitted: 10/11/22 • Approved: 10/11/22 • Last Updated: 10/14/22 • R540714-G540712-S3
Esther
Nov 18, 1925-Sept 19, 2007
Married July 11, 1948
Leroy
Oct 2, 1926-June 21, 2016
Obituary:
FOLLETT - Esther Riffel, 81, died Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2007, in Amarillo.
Services will be at 2 p.m. today in Christ Lutheran Church in Shattuck, Okla. Arrangements are by Scotty Schilling Funeral Director.
Mrs. Riffel was born Nov. 18, 1925 in Lipscomb County to Chris and Lydia Schilling. She married Leroy Riffel on July 11, 1948, in Shattuck.
Survivors include a son, Brad Riffel of Amarillo; a daughter, Leigh Ann Finney of Perryton; three grandchildren; and four sisters, Lorene Meller of Enid, Okla., Jean Hardwicke of Oklahoma City, Delilah Mazachek of Granbury and Helen Bartunek of Naples, Fla.
Amarillo Globe-News, Sept. 21, 2007
Obituary:
Leroy Riffel of Follett, Texas died on Tuesday, June 21, 2016.
There was nothing Leroy wouldn't do for a laugh -- sometimes even at his own expense. "Nowadays, I've got two speeds," he'd say to visitors who'd pull up a chair to join him at his kitchen table. "Slow and stop." But that wasn't how life always was for Leroy.
He was born at home on a farm southwest of Shattuck, Oklahoma to August and Lydia (Sell) Riffel on October 2, 1926. He grew up during the Dust Bowl when times were hard and the jobs on his parent's farm weren't easy, but he staked his claim in a little piece of land in Follett, Texas, with his new bride Esther (Schilling) Riffel. The two were wed on July 11, 1948 and had two children--Brad and Leigh Ann. People around town knew his friendly face from the White House Lumber Yard. He began working there in 1951 and "didn't leave for over 50 years because I didn't have enough sense to." That razor sharp wit was with him until the very end. He died of congestive heart failure at the age of 89. "Almost 90 years," he said before his last breaths. "Man, it went fast."
He was preceded in death by his parents, August and Lydia Riffel, his wife, Esther Riffel, two sisters, and a granddaughter.
Survivors include his children, Brad Riffel and his wife Ann of Amarillo, Leigh Ann Finney and her husband Alan Finney of Perryton, and three grandchildren, Alison Finney of Brooklyn, NY, Bryan Finney and his wife Allyson of Houston, and Darren Finney of Perryton. He is also survived by his "other three boys", Larry Schilling, Tommy Schilling, and Scotty Schilling all of Follett, who played a very important part in his life.
Leroy was a member of Christ Lutheran Church in Shattuck, Oklahoma.
Schilling funeral home, Follett, TX.
Photo courtesy of Glen Love
grlove63@gmail.com
Contributed on 10/11/22 by paperdoll1913
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Record #: 540714