Audria Evelyn Wilhite

Audria Evelyn Martin Wilhite joined her Jesus in Heaven on November 15, 2012.

Services will be held Tuesday, November 20, at 2 p.m. at Geo. J. Carroll & Son Funeral Home Chapel in Gainesville with Jerryd Wallace, Cooke County Home Hospice Chaplain, officiating. Visitation is set for Monday, November 19, from 6-8 p.m. at the George J. Carroll and Son Funeral Home.

Audria Evelyn Martin Wilhite, known with love as “Tot” or “Tottie”, was born to V.W. “Virgil” Martin Sr. and Velma Caraway Martin, September 4, 1931, in southern Cooke County, near Valley View. She graduated from Valley View High School in 1948. She worked as a store clerk at Duke & Ayres in Gainesville where she was known as the “Duke & Ayres Cutie”. Not only did this experience spark what would be a long and successful career in retail, but it also provided an introduction to the gentleman who would be her “life love” – Henry Hugh Wilhite. The couple wed February 19, 1950.

Evelyn stayed at home to raise two sons and a daughter before returning to retail in the late 1960’s, when she was named manager of a busy little North Dixon Street store called Thrift Town. When the chain dissolved in the mid-70’s, they allowed Evelyn to maintain the name and some of the fixtures to continue as Thrift Town 2, with a tiny storefront on South Rusk Street.

After a couple of years as owner/manager of Thrift Town 2, Evelyn was approached by Francis Wiese of Kinne’s Jewelers with an offer she couldn’t resist and she closed her tiny business and joined the Wiese family as part of the staff at Kinne’s Jewelers, a position she held with beauty and grace for 25 years, retiring in September 2001.

Evelyn was involved in a number of organizations during her lifetime, including Soroptimist Club of Gainesville, the Gainesville Memorial Hospital / NTMC Auxiliary and many activities through the years at her church home, Grand Avenue Baptist.

The legacy of Audria Evelyn Martin Wilhite lives on through her family and longtime friends who loved her, including her son, Gary Wilhite of Gainesville; son and daughter-in-law, Steve and Sharon Wilhite of Lone Oak; her daughter and son-in-law, Gayla and Dee Blanton of Gainesville; two daughters-in-law, Debbie Wilhite of Marietta, Oklahoma, and Dee Ann Estep of Orange Grove; six grandchildren; nine great-grandchildren; two brothers, Royce D. Martin of Valley View and Kenneth Martin of Montague; one sister, Reva Martin Beaver of Allen; and a host of nieces and nephews.

Preceding her in death were her husband, Hugh Wilhite; brothers, Weldon Martin and V.W. Martin, Jr; and her parents.

Pallbearers are her grandsons, Kyle Wilhite, Chris Wilhite, Andrew Wilhite and Kenny Blanton and special friends Jack Wiese and Denny Huggins.

Memorial contributions may be made to the North Texas Medical Center Foundation, 1900 Hospital Boulevard, Gainesville, or Home Hospice of Cooke County, P.O. Box 936, Gainesville.