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Elizabeth I. Hunger


Elizabeth I. Hunger

Elizabeth “Liz” Ida Ross Hunger, 91, of Junction died on Feb. 28, 2020, at the family ranch home on Bailey Creek.

She was born on Dec. 23, 1928, in Yoakum to Ida Clotilda (Hammerlin) and Charles William Ross.

The family moved to Bandera in 1930, and then to Edwards County in 1933. Since the ranch her father worked on was far from town, she attended first grade in Baird, where she lived with her aunt and uncle.

The following year, Hunger, her sister and their mother stayed in an apartment in Rocksprings and went to the ranch on weekends. Her father worked for the Mayfield Ranch in Sutton County in 1938-39, and she and her sister rode with other children to another school, before returning to school in Rocksprings.

In high school, Hunger played volleyball for three years and tennis for two. During her junior year in 1945 gas was being rationed. A community member lent their car and purchased gas for the volleyball team to travel in, and as Hunger had a driver’s license she drove the team to games.

She was a member of the home economics club, head cheerleader and prom queen her senior year.

She graduated from Rocksprings High School in May of 1947. At the graduation party, Hunger won the barrel racing event, and that summer she represented Rocksprings as a duchess at the Kerrville Rodeo.

Hunger attended Draughon’s Business College in San Antonio for one year before moving to Junction in 1948 to work for Junction National Bank.

After a lengthy courtship, she ran off with Bobbie Virgil Hunger to Bandera where they were married on Oct. 24, 1953, at the First United Methodist Church. Later in life, Hunger became a member of the First United Methodist Church of Barksdale.

The couple started married life in a white house on Mesquite Street in Junction and had two children, Sue Beth Hunger and Charles Edward Hunger.

During the drought of the 1950s, they purchased 320 acres of land that joined existing property and leased an additional 4,000 acres. They ran sheep, goats and cows, and had to feed cake and corn regularly. Together they were a ranching team until his death in 2014.

Her husband worked as a roughneck at night and took care of ranch work during the day. When he didn’t, she would check the water, pen up goats at night and feed.

Her black border collie was well-trained and helped her round up the goats. Her dog could get across draws that she couldn’t and would bring the goats to her, and she would  pen up and feed them in the late afternoons after her other work was finished.

In 1967, the family moved from Junction to Nueces Canyon, where her husband and his brothers built a cedar-oil mill, Hunger Brothers, that was in operation until 1979. On top of being bookkeeper for their company, she was also a gofer for parts while it was being built.

While living in Nueces Canyon, she volunteered with the livestock show, fire department, EMS, rodeo, PTA, and for 4-H, cooking and sewing and as a camp sponsor.

She had many hobbies including sewing, crocheting and quilting, making jellies and jams, photography, and gardening, which included many potted plants. She enjoyed watching wildlife from the porch and the family says she was faithful about feeding hummingbirds. The Dallas Cowboys and San Antonio Spurs were her favorite sports teams.

She is survived by her daughter, Sue Beth Geller and husband, Daryl, of Junction; son, Charles Edward Hunger and wife, Tena, of Barksdale; sister, Charlene Irving of Moulton; five grandsons; two great-grandsons; numerous nieces and great-nieces, nephews and great-nephews, who all called her auntie.

She was preceded in death by her husband of 60 years; grandson, Jerome Edward Geller; and great-granddaughter, Audrey Morgan.

A visitation was held Friday at 5:30 p.m. at Kimble Funeral Home.

A memorial service was held yesterday at 2 p.m. at Faith Community Church in Junction.

Kimble Funeral Home, www.kimblefuneralhometx.com.

Elizabeth I. Hunger

Elizabeth I. Hunger

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