Sylvia Jo Gathright

Sylvia Jo Buckingham Gathright, age 81 and born December 29, 1938 in Ft. Worth, Texas, passed away in Austin, Texas, early in the morning of April 3, 2020 from COVID19. She was only the fourth person in Austin to die of the virus. Jo married her husband of 63 years, Herman K. Gathright, also known as Sonny, in Corpus Christi, Texas, in 1957. They celebrated the birth of their daughter Glenda Gail the same year. Three years later their family grew with birth of their son, Herman Keel Gathright, III, who went by Keel. As a military family they lived mostly in Florida (Pensacola, Jacksonville, and Key West), with a short assignment in Albany Georgia. After Herman's retirement from the US Navy they lived in Memphis, TN; Houston, TX; Greenville, MS; Corpus Christi, TX; Buena Vista, CO; Leander, TX; and finally, Austin, TX. While in Jacksonville, FL, Jo worked as a well-respected supervisor for Blue Cross and Blue Shield Insurance. She also worked for Brown & Root Insurance in Houston, TX. Jo's been described by many as a hoot, a pistol, and a firecracker. Her dedication to her friends and family was without comparison and she loved making them and everyone else aroun...[more]

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er smile. Jo was Queen Mother of a chapter of the Red Hat Society in Corpus Christi Texas, and she loved dressing up and going out with the ladies of her chapter. Some might call her sense of humor deadpan - her insistence that she had laboriously made every baked good found in her kitchen was so emphatic you almost believed her. She once delivered to her youngest grandson, Garrett, some Oreo cookies dipped in chocolate and told him that she had made them just for him. It only took 15 years for him to find out this might have been what Jo would have called a "little fib." Jo never found a yard sale or thrift store that wasn't worth stopping at, a candy that wasn't worth trying and sharing, or a conversation that wasn't worth starting. That means that her five great-granddaughters each have more costume jewelry now than many theater companies, her grandsons have inherited her sweet tooth, and everyone she ever met has memories of heartfelt conversations that can sustain them through this immense loss. Jo was preceded in death by her son, Keel Gathright; her brother, Harold James Buckingham Jr; and her parents, Harold James Buckingham Sr and Mamie Louise Garrett Buckingham. She is survived by her husband, Herman Gathright; her daughter, Gail Gathright Hines; her grandsons, Marshall Franklin and Garrett Kimbrough Hines; her sisters, Gloria Buckingham Ball and Nancy Buckingham; and seven great-grandchildren (Lyle, Marlene, Ben, Ruth, and Charlotte [Chuck] Beasley and Harriet and Abigail Hines), all of whom she adored.