Iris Adkins Guthrie

Iris Adkins Guthrie of Taft, Texas, died in Corpus Christi on Tuesday, May 6, 2008 after a short illness. Guthrie was born in Spray, North Carolina on December 26, 1919 to Mary Elizabeth Bateman and Carroll Kemper Adkins. After graduating from high school in 1936, she entered nursing school at the Capitol City School of Nursing in Washington, D.C, graduating as a Registered Nurse in 1940. She joined the Navy Nursing Corp in 1943, commissioned as a second lieutenant. She married Keith Guthrie in 1945. Keith Guthrie was a naval aviator when the two met in San Diego, California. After the war, the couple moved to Tomball, Texas, and operated the local newspaper, the Harris County News. In 1950, Guthrie and her husband moved to Taft where they purchased the Taft Tribune, the Mathis News and the Odem-Edroy Times. They later started the Portland News and purchased the Orange Grove Observer and the San Diego Times. She and her husband worked in partnership reporting, writing and editing the news until they sold the publishing business in 1970. Guthrie was a member of the First United Methodist Church of Taft, the Taft Woman’s Club, the San Patricio County Historical Commission, the South Texas Historical Society, the Nueces County Historical Society, the Navy Nurse Corp Association, the Texas Folklore Society and the Texas State Historical Association. She volunteered as a Cub Scout Pack Leader. She served as a director of the Taft Blackland Museum. As an accomplished painter, she was a member of the Water Color Society of South Texas and the Art Center of Corpus Christi. Guthrie was preceded in death by her husband and is survived by a sister, Mary Gassaway of St. Louis, Missouri; three children, Bridget Thomas of Fort Worth. Texas, Lynn Houser of Sinton, Texas, and Craig Guthrie of Denver, Colorado; eight grandchildren and six great grandchildren. Interment will be in Oak Hill Cemetery in Goliad, Texas in a private ceremony. Donations may be made to the Taft Blackland Museum or to the First United Methodist Church, Taft. ARRANGEMENTS ENTRUSTED TO: CHARLIE MARSHALL FUNERAL HOMES and CREMATORY, INC. Aransas Pass, Texas 361/758-3221