Charles Norfleet

Charles Norfleet COTTON CENTER -- Funeral services for Charles E. Norfleet, 68, will be at 2 p.m. Saturday in First Baptist Church in Cotton Center with the Rev. J.D. Templeton officiating. Burial will be in Hale Center Cemetery by Freeman-Abell Funeral Home of Hale Center. Mr. Norfleet died Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2004, at his residence. He was born Feb. 23, 1935, on the Norfleet farm near Hale Center, the son of Frank Ellwood and Florence Ella Benson Norfleet. He was the grandson of Hale County pioneers, J. Frank and Mattie Eliza Hudgins Norfleet. He graduated from Hale Center High School and attended Texas Tech where he studied mechanical engineering. He enjoyed reading and learning and had many interests and hobbies including art, mechanics, computers, electronics, flying, chemistry and science. He also was a ham radio operator. He served on the Cotton Center School Board for more than 25 years and was a member of the Hale Center and Amarillo gun clubs and had earned the honor of Master Marksman. He was a Baptist and a member of the Lemond Masonic Lodge, Lubbock Scottish Rite and Khiva Shrine. He and Carlton Holland of Plainview formed H&N Electronics and he wrote one of the first computerized gin programs. He and his uncle, John Benson, designed and held a patent on a tractor front end. On May 25, 1960, he married Shelby Claycomb in Plainview. Survivors include his wife; two daughters and sons-in-law, Catherine and Terry Simmons of Hobbs, N.M., and Beverly and Byron Sutterfield of Bushland; a sister and brother-in-law, Susie McBeth and Ralph Kathan of St. Charles, Ill.; two grandchildren; and longtime friends, Doug and Dorotha Sopher. A son, John Charles "Johnny" Norfleet, died April 26, 1998. The family suggests memorials to the Hale County Farm and Ranch Museum or to First Baptist Church library, Cotton Center, TX 79021. The body will be at the funeral home in Hale Center today until 8 p.m.