Orene Hewitt Covington

Orene Hewitt Covington, 97, of Wichita Falls, passed away on October 27, 2020, just 22 days short of her 98th birthday. 

Graveside services will be held on Saturday, October 31, 2020 at 2:00 pm, at the Masonic Cemetery in Seymour with Steve Sullwold officiating under the direction of Archer Funeral Home, Seymour, Texas. 

Orene entered this world on a farm northeast of Seymour, Texas, November 17, 1922, the last of three daughters born to Frank Hewitt and Minnie Jackson Hewitt.  Her sisters were Ocle Hewitt Miller and Modena Hewitt Miller.  Orene’s childhood was spent on this cotton farm.  She worked on the farm, hoeing cotton, tending gardens, feeding animals and helping her family through the Great Depression.  She drove a horse and buggy several miles each day to Plainview School for her elementary years and then graduated from Seymour High School.  After graduation she took a business class and worked at First National Bank in Seymour and at the Federal Home Administration in Ft. Worth until she married Harley Covington in 1944.

Six weeks after their marriage, Harley was shipped overseas to the war effort in France, where he was gravely wounded.  Several months later, Orene was able to join Harley in Temple, Texas, where he remained in the hospital for one year.  After being discharged from the army, Harley and Orene returned to Seymour where they lived for many years.

Making a home for Harley and their son, Ed, was Orene’s first priority and her calling.  One of her greatest pleasures was preparing meals for her family.  She even liked cooking all of the fish and wild game that her hunter husband and son brought home.  She was an excellent cook and always had good food prepared to serve whenever anyone stopped by.  She was still a gracious hostess well into her nineties.  She enjoyed talking on the phone with her nieces and grandsons and could recount family history, as well as what each person was doing.  A highlight of her day was a visit from her son and daughter-in-law, Mary, as they saw her daily in her apartment at Presbyterian Manor in Wichita Falls, where she had resided for the last 19 years.

Orene’s son and grandsons brought her much joy.  She was a Cub Scout leader and taught Sunday school when Ed was young.  She thought that being a full-time mother was very important and she delighted in participating in Ed’s activities. Orene worked alongside her husband and son in the family business, The Man’s Store, in Seymour.  And later she was always ready to keep her grandsons whenever they came to her house.  She was a very special grandmother, Mamoon, to Blaine and Cameron, who could do no wrong.  And Orene recently was thrilled to become a great grandmother to Kate.

One of Orene’s most outstanding characteristics was her caring attitude for others, exemplified by her constant care of Harley for the last ten years of his life, when he was an invalid.  She also visited her parents every day to check on them and later took care of their needs.  Her caring extended to volunteering for 40 years in the hospital auxiliary and in the American Cancer Society.

In her later years when she was free to travel, she took bus trips all over the United States, visiting nearly every state, including Alaska.  Several friends went on these trips and Orene loved seeing all the sights and having great fun with the people on the bus.

In 2001 Orene moved to Wichita Falls to be near her son and his family.  Many friendships were formed at Presbyterian Manor, where Orene took part in social activities, especially the game of 84.  She became a member of First Baptist Church in Wichita Falls, where she was involved in her Sunday school class.  She was also active in the Cancer Connection in Wichita Falls, a cancer survivors’ support group.

Orene was a very compassionate person, always accepting of others with a positive outlook.  She had a quick laugh, reminiscent of her mother’s ready laugh.  Orene was full of grace and love.  Hers was a life well lived.

She was predeceased by her parents, her husband, Harley Covington, and her two sisters.  She is survived by her son, Ed Covington and wife, Mary, of Wichita Falls, two grandsons, Blaine and wife, Stephanie, of Aledo and Cameron of Aledo, great grand children, Keely of Abilene, Grayson and Kate of Aledo, and several nieces and nephews.

Memorials may be made to First Baptist Church, 420 N. Washington St., Seymour, TX 76380, Presbyterian Manor, 4600 Taft Blvd., Wichita Falls, TX 76308, or to the American Cancer Society, 2304 Midwestern Pkwy #206, Wichita Falls, TX 76308.  Online condolences may be made at archerfuneralhome.net.

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