Blake Evans Yager Jr.

Memorial service: 9:30 a.m. Tuesday at Town Village in Arlington. Visitation: The family will receive friends 5 to 7 p.m. Monday at Mount Olivet Funeral Home.

Memorials: In lieu of flowers, please send a donation to Community Hospice of Texas, 6100 Western Place, Suite 500, Fort Worth, Texas 76107.

Blake was a career educator, born in Brad. He was raised in Mineral Wells. He entered college at Texas Wesleyan in 1939 before joining the U.S. Army in 1942, serving 33 months in the Italian and African theaters.

Blake re-entered TWC in 1945 and graduated in 1947 as student body president. Blake completed his master's degree at North Texas State University in Denton in 1949. He began his teaching and coaching career in Sonora followed by principal positions in Nocona and Ozona before joining the Fort Worth ISD in 1952 where he taught, was principal, and administered until his retirement as food service director in 1980.

He and his wife, Jean, also an educator, retired to Nocona where they lived until his failing health dictated a move to the Metroplex in 2008. Before their move, he was a Shriner and an active member of the Nocona Masonic Lodge and they are members of the First United Methodist Church and Eastern Star in Nocona. He enjoyed a lifetime love of the outdoors, which included hunting, fishing, playing golf and raising cattle. He stayed in contact with many family members and friends through the lost art of letter writing. He will be missed by all who knew and loved him.

Survivors: He is survived by his wife of 59 years, Jean Ray; son, Rick Yager and his wife, Debbie; daughter, Cheryl Johnson and her husband, Justin; grandchildren, Valerie Yager-Toconis and her husband, Scott, Kurt Yager, Blake Johnson and Chase Johnson; great-grandson, Collin Toconis; and cousins, Jean Dyer and Charles Hamilton.