Coleman "Buster" Babb, Jr.
From the April 7, 2006 issue of the Terrell County News-Leader, page 2:DEL RIO - Graveside services were Tuesday, April 4, 2006, at Westlawn Cemetery here for Coleman "Buster" Babb, Jr., 83, a former Terrell County sheriff who died Friday, March 31, 2006, in Seguin.
Babb, who served as Terrell County deputy sheriff and then sheriff in the 1950s, was born December 22, 1922, in Del Rio to Coleman and Mary Diana Davis Babb. He graduated from Sanderson High School in 1941 and married Willa Dean Brotherton in 1944. After a divorce he married Helen Alsobrook.
Babb grew up in and around West Texas. His family owned land in what is now Big Bend National Park and later sold the land to the federal government when the park was created. He enjoyed match roping and at one time teamed up with Jim Bob Altizer, a nationally-known roper.
After leaving Sanderson, Babb became a truck driver, a rancher, oil field worker and farrier. In the 1980s he was a ranch manager for the Texas Nature Conservancy's Rosillos Mountain Preserve in Big Bend. It was 67,000 acres that then adjoined Big Bend park but is now a part of the park. Texas Highways magazine featured Babb in some articles during that period. He later became a ranch manager and care-giver to a Sonora man before he retired and moved to San Angelo.
He was preceded in death by his parents, both wives, a brother, Glynn Babb, and a half brother, Jack Babb.
He is survived by one son, Byron and wife Charlie Babb of Farmington, New Mexico; two daughters, Linda and Steve Dooley of Belle Chasse, Louisiana, and Brenda and Pat Lane of San Antonio; step children Mac and Betty McGinty and Bari McGinty and sister-in-law, Lelia Babb, all of San Angelo; five grandchildren, one great grandchild and numerous nieces and nephews and cherished friends Doris Eckert and her family.
Funeral services were handled by Sunset Memorial Oaks Funeral Home. Memorials may be in the form of a donation to a favorite church or charity.
One photo.