Gena D'Lene (Rankin) Leggett

 Funeral services for Gena D’Lene Rankin Leggett will be 11 am, Sunday, February 24, 2019 under the Pavilion of Bogata Cemetery. The family will receive friends one hour prior to services at the Wood Funeral Home, 414 N. Main Street, Bogata, TX 75417.

Gena D’Lene Rankin Leggett, born in Clarita, OK on January 31, 1935 to Jessie Lee Atkins and George Howard Rankin, passed away Monday February 18, 2019. She was the youngest of nine children: Adrian, Irby, Donna, Dayle, Ruby, Johnnie Joe, June, and Marshalene.

Her schooling began in Soper, OK. The next few years were spent moving between Stillwater, OK and Atlanta, GA. D’Lene said she moved so often she was always behind in school, so she played hooky at the library, and said that was where she got her real education. She continued to love to read for the rest of her life. She graduated from Bass High School in Atlanta in 1952. She attended Baylor University in Waco where she met her husband Harold Dean Leggett on a blind date. They married on April 18, 1953 in Bonham, Texas. Her husband was an Air Force officer, and they spent many years stationed across the county from Florida to Alaska and points in between. They had four daughters: Linda Teressa Adams (Deceased July 1984), Patricia Lynn (George) Pedersen of Mountain Green, UT, Catherine D’Lene (Jeff) Landig of Allen, TX, and Dena Kristi (Ken) Read of Centennial, CO.  

At retirement from the Air Force they moved to Denison, TX and built their home on Rocky Point. D’Lene had many talents but focused her skills on being a loving mother and homemaker. One of her greatest accomplishments was learning to fly, and she even got her commercial pilot’s license. Her passions included playing the piano, clarinet and violin, as well as painting in oils and water color. Her most outstanding talent was her singing voice, but 60 years of smoking cigarettes took that from her. 

            She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband of 61 years, seven siblings and her oldest daughter, Terry. D’Lene passes her legacy on to 11 grandchildren and 16 Great-grandchildren.

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