Services for Robert Edwin (Bob) Medford, 79, of Lufkin, will be held at 2:00 p.m., Monday, June 19, 2006, in the Gipson-Metcalf Funeral Home Chapel with Reverend Mike Hunter officiating. Private Interment will follow in the Garden of Memories Memorial Park. Bob Medford was born September 17, 1926, in Lufkin, Texas, to Ernest Peyton and Ethel (Mantooth) Medford. He graduated from Lufkin High School in 1944, joined the Air Corps after high school, and was discharged in November 1945. He attended the University of Arkansas while in the service and afterwards, Texas Christian University. Bobby was a lifelong member of the First Christian Church, where he was very involved. He was an elder and taught various Sunday school classes, the last class being the Medford Class, which he taught for 30 years. He was always ready and willing to participate, which was evident in the fact that he always portrayed Judas at Easter and then was a wiseman in the Living Nativity at Christmas. He truly loved his church and referred to it as his anchor, source of inspiration and strength when he needed it most. When he was asked, he was a supply preacher at the Christian churches of Center, Grapeland and Slocum. He was a Mason and joined Lufkin Lodge #669 in September 1947 when he was 21 years old. He was also a member of the Scottish Rite, Chapter and Council, and a past Commander and recorder of Lufkin Commandry #88. He was a past member of the Noon Lions Club, the Optimist Club, and a founder and first president of the Lufkin Art Guild. He married the former Audrey Fuller on December 3, 1948. He and Audrey spent many happy hours together traveling East Texas, taking pictures and looking for ideas for her art. He was her biggest supporter. Bobby loved sports, especially the Lufkin Panthers. He rarely missed a football game and nothing could have kept him from the State Championship game at the Astrodome. He was also a devoted fan of his grandson's baseball and never missed a game. He loved people. He was retired from Abney & Sons Hardware, and a retired draftsman of residential and commercial buildings. As a father, father-in-law and grandfather, he was the best. Never there to mind your business, but always there to listen and help. He is survived by his daughter and son-in-law, Mary Jane and Jim West of Lufkin; his granddaughter, Rebecca West of Lufkin; his grandson, Scotty West of College Station; niece, Sally Ann Basey Swearingen of Nacogdoches; brother-in-law, Carl Basey of Lufkin; and first-cousins, Janice Ann Rowe of Lufkin, Milton Hickman of Dallas, Bill Royle of Lufkin, Sid Medford of Lufkin and Phil Medford of Lufkin. He was preceded in death by his wife, Audrey Fuller Medford, in 1998; his parents, Ernest and Ethel Medford; and stepmother, Elizabeth Medford. Pallbearers will be members of the Medford Sunday School Class: Ernest Rowe, Thomas Moore, Ray Jayroe, Ray Carswell, John Porter, Ed Mount, Bob Brown, Bill Wellbourn and Jerry Hill. Honorary pallbearers will be Officers and Sir Knights of Lufkin Commandry #88. Memorial contributions may be made to the First Christian Church, 1300 S. First, Lufkin, Texas 75904 or to Hospice in the Pines, 116 S. Raguet, Lufkin, Texas 75904. The family will receive friends from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Sunday evening at Gipson-Metcalf Funeral Home. Gipson-Metcalf Funeral Directors; W.A. Dempsey, director