Howard Clayton Boatright

1928 - 2016

Howard Clayton Boatright, 88 of Odessa, Texas, left this life on March, 29, 2016. Visitation will be on Friday, April 1, 2016 from 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. at Nalley-Pickle & Welch Funeral Home. Interment will be on Saturday, April 2, 2016 at 10:00 a.m. at Belvedere Cemetery in San Angelo, Texas, with Pastor David Johnson officiating. Howard was born on January 5, 1928 in Gouldbusk, Texas to Walter and Amanda Boatright. The Boatright family moved to Dublin, Texas shortly after he was born where he attended Dublin Schools and worked on his family farm. He attended Tarleton University for two years where he met Geraldine Gibbs. They were married in San Angelo, Texas in 1949 and were blessed with two sons and two daughters. Mr. Boatright began supporting his family on a dairy farm and later moved to Odessa, Texas and went to work for Welex, beginning his career in the oil fields of West Texas. He later worked for Frontier Oil Company until he opened his own well-plugging company, El Toro Perforators. He then owned and operated Howard Boatright Co., a well-servicing/plugging business for many years. He was one of the pioneers in well-plugging in West Texas and was attributed to plugging close to 3000 wells. Mr. Boatright was active in the oil/well-plugging business as a consultant until the age of 85. Mr. Boatright had a love of Odessa and West Texas and great respect for its rough, rugged terrain and the toughness and grit of the oil industry and its people. He saw great fluctuations and change over the 30 years he worked in the well-plugging business. He was a voracious reader, especially regarding the Civil War and World War II eras. He struggled his whole life with dyslexia but learned through determination the love of reading later in life. Howard and Geraldine were members of First Baptist Church of Midland. Survivors include his wife, Geraldine Gibbs Boatright of Odessa; son and daughter-in-law, David Boatright and Debbie Boatright of Odessa; son and daughter-in-law, Mark Boatright and Suzie Boatright of Asheville, North Carolina; daughter and son-in-law, Delia Boatright Metcalfe and Keith Metcalfe of Atlanta, Georgia; as well as granddaughters, Mackenzie Metcalfe and Callie Boatright; and grandsons Sterling Boatright, Chance Boatright, and Spencer Metcalfe. He is also survived by three great-grandchildren; his brother, Jack Boatright of Dublin, Texas; and numerous nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by their beloved daughter, Lisa Boatright, at the age of four. Arrangements are under the direction of Nalley-Pickle & Welch Funeral Home & Crematory of Midland. Online condolences may be made at www.npwelch.com.