Nella Faye Dewlen

DEWLEN, NELLA FAYE Nella Faye Dewlen, retired teacher of literature, English and drama and wife of Waco Novelist Al Dewlen, died late Thursday, July 11, 2002 after a long debilitating illness. She was 86. Funeral service is scheduled for Monday, July 15, in the Wilkirson-Hatch-Bailey Bosque Chapel at 11:30AM. Visitation is scheduled at the funeral home on Sunday, July 14 between the hours of 2:00-4:00PM. Graveside rites are planned for 2:00PM on Tuesday, July 16, in Clinton, Oklahoma, where Mrs. Dewlen will be interred in her family plot. Her son, Kent Watson, Minister of the Church of Christ at Claude, Texas, will conduct both services. Mrs. Dewlen, widowed in 1982 by the death of her first husband, Delbert Dean Watson, a Clinton school principal and Church of Christ elder, relocated to Waco with her marriage to Dewlen in 1991. Dewlen was a longtime friend of the Watson family. On the dedication page of his recently republished book Dewlen spoke of his wife as “an enchanting lady” who “lent an immeasurable joy to my valedictory years”. He frequently spoke of her as having rescued him from despair following the death of his first wife, Jean Dewlen. The two of them shared a love of literature, music and church. Mrs. Dewlen was born in Maypearl, Texas, and reared in Burns Flat, Oklahoma. She earned a bachelor’s degree at Southwestern State University in Weatherford, Oklahoma, and a masters at the University of Oklahoma. She taught at Lake Valley, Mountain View and Clinton, Oklahoma, until her retirement in 1980. During her widowhood and the early years of her marriage to Dewlen, Mrs. Dewlen spent much of each year in her vacation home at Pagosa Springs, Colorado, where she pursued her collection of Western and Indian art, sought out concerts, played bridge and cultivated friendships with a number of senior retirees. She was active in church affairs in Pagosa. She had a facility with literary quotations, particularly from Shakespeare and the romance poets and was described as the community’s most welcome party guest. As one said, “she didn’t merely smile; she twinkled”. Mrs. Dewlen is also survived by her sons, Kent Watson and Delbert Dean Watson of Yukon, Oklahoma; her grandchildren, Mrs. Kelley Farley of Tulsa, Amy Watson of Oklahoma City, Aaron Watson and Alyssa Watson of Claude, Texas, one great granddaughter, Abigail Elizabeth Farley of Tulsa and a brother, Troy Wood of Weatherford, Oklahoma. Mrs. Dewlen attended Crestview Church of Christ in Waco. WILKIRSON-HATCH-BAILEY