Bonham, Texas -- Graveside services for Mrs. Bernice Hyatt Tarpley, age 96 of Dallas, formerly of Bonham, will be held at 10:00 AM Friday, March 4, 2005 in Willow Wild Cemetery under the direction of Wise Funeral Home. Rev. Jake E. Hall, a pastor of Wilshire Baptist Church, will officiate. Mrs. Tarpley passed away Wednesday, March 2, 2005 at Signature Pointe on the Lake, an assisted living residence where she had lived for the past six years.

Mrs. Tarpley was born October 20, 1908 in Bonham Texas to Pleas Hyatt and Cora Ross Hyatt. She married Paul Alford Tarpley on September 3, 1933 in Bonham. Throughout most of their 53 years of marriage, they resided in Dallas, where she continued to live after Paul’s death in 1986.

In 1927, not long out of high school, she became secretary to W. T. White, at that time Superintendent of the Bonham schools. In addition, Mrs. Tarpley was secretary to the Bonham law firm of Cunningham and Lipscomb, and later the Corporate Secretary to East Texas Savings & Loan in Gladewater, Texas.

In 1938, she and her husband moved to Dallas. With the arrival of her children, Mrs. Tarpley was a devoted homemaker and mother, who volunteered with Cub Scouts, school and church activities. In 1951, she returned to work first as a secretary to Dr. E. D. Walker, then at Thomas J. Rusk Jr. High, followed by North Dallas, Bryan Adams, Woodrow Wilson and Thomas Jefferson High Schools.

Mrs. Tarpley was widely regarded as an English and grammar expert, and younger English teachers and students would frequently seek her opinion on matters of construction and usage. Following her retirement in 1973, she resumed a very active role in church activities and book clubs, frequently serving as an officer for both her Sunday school classes and book clubs. She was a member of the Wilshire Baptist Church for the last forty years.

She was devoted to her late husband, her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren and nephew, Dr. Reece, and delighted in their achievements and those of the students in the many schools she served. A kind and helpful friend and neighbor, Mrs. Tarpley will be missed by many.

Mrs. Tarpley is survived by son, Charles Tarpley and daughter-in-law Mary Ellen Tarpley, Dallas and Bloomfield Hills, Michigan; daughter, Mary Campfield and son-in-law, Regis Campfield, Dallas; two granddaughters, Dr. Allison Taten and her husband, Michael Taten, Dallas, Claire Storino and her husband, John Storino, Chicago, and two great grandchildren, Matthew and Laura Taten. She is also survived by a nephew, Dr. Robert D. Reece and wife, Donna of Dayton, Ohio, numerous other nephews and nieces and a dear cousin, Nettie Bernice McFarlan.

The family extends their gratitude for the excellent care provided by the staff at Signature Pointe and more recently, by hospice care by VITAS.

Memorials may be made to the Homebound Ministry at Wilshire Baptist Church, Dallas.