Monroe Tabb

On April 9, 2025, Monroe Ericson Tabb, age 92, passed from his confining hospital bed and was escorted to heaven to meet his Lord Jesus, and to be reunited with his sweetheart Jesydean, his baby boy Tommy, and all his loved ones who had gone before him. Monroe was born on February 19, 1933, to Monroe Thomas and Lela Maye Tabb in Jones County.

Monroe married his high school sweetheart Jesydean Bowman on July 4, 1951. They suffered the pain and heartache of losing their oldest child, Tommy, in 1955.

Although we miss him sorely, the illnesses and setbacks of the last 6 months that left him bedfast seemed interminable for a man who always had trouble sitting still for more than 5 minutes. Monroe was the rock of the family, a man of integrity, determination, and steadfast love for his family. He lived his faith beautifully and the memories of his actions and words will live forever in our hearts.

Monroe’s work ethic was one thing that we all respect about that remarkable generation of his. At the age of 5 or 6 he was pulling his little wagon around Hamlin, peddling goldfish and tomatoes. During his teen years Monroe, his parents, and his dog Troubles traveled to California and Oregon to pick fruit. They bought a laundry in Hamlin with the money they made, and once the laundry was running, his parents gave him the job of collecting on the outstanding laundry accounts. His dad let him keep half of what he was able to collect. His first job after high school was pushing a wheelbarrow of cement day after day to help build the original red brick primary school, including its basement. Then, at seventeen, he was loading boards at the Celotex gyp mill, as well as working at the quarry in Longworth. He married Jesydean on Independence Day of 1951, and he worked at every part time job he could find to provide for his family, pulling cotton, shingling houses, and working on weekends as a roust-about in the oil field. In 1957, Celotex was running only 3 days a week, so he went to work nights “switching” for the Santa Fe railroad.

1967 brought the opportunity to work for Shell pipeline in Goldsmith, Texas. He began working in April and on August 5 while helping a gang of college students load pipe, four 25-foot pieces of pipe rolled off the headache rack. He pushed guys out of the way before the pipe fell directly onto him. Although this left him with a 12-inch gash on his leg and 3 compressed disks in his back, he was back at work by January 1st. In June of 1969 he was transferred to McCamey, Texas as lead man and the family stayed there for almost 20 years. After the youngest graduated from high school, Monroe and Jesydean headed to Colorado with Shell for the for the inspection job on a 30-inch Co2 line that was 600 miles long. On December 17, 1985, Monroe got the call that Shell was transferring him to Hamlin. He and Jesydean had always wanted to come back, so they were so happy to finally get to move back home! He took early retirement in 1992.

From his retirement until January of 2021, Monroe and Jesydean lived out their dream of being back in Hamlin with a year-round schedule of gardening, fishing, and hunting, intermingled with time for kids, grandkids, and friends.

Monroe is preceded in death by his parents, his wife Jesydean, his baby boy Tommy, and his precious sister Jewel Pearce.

He is survived by his children Bob Tabb (Cindi) of Edmonson, Texas; Eric Tabb (Ava) of Midland, Texas; Vance Tabb (Lori) of Dawson, Texas; and Linda Yarbrough of Hamlin, Texas; eleven grandchildren, Corie Ash (Brian), Cristie Chadwick (Tyler), Robert Tabb (Megan), Micki Major, Erin Fitch (Ryan), Preston Tabb (Gabby), Peyton Tabb (Candace), Christie Mann, Heather Wilson (Roy), Joshua Yarbrough, and Bonnie-Marie Yarbrough, and sixteen great-grandchildren.