Clarenda (C.B) West

Graveside services for Clarenda Beth (CB) West, 73, of Gainesville, are set for 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 18, 2017 at New Hope Cemetery in Mountain Springs with Thomas Cheaney officiating. Services are under the direction of Geo. J. Carroll & Son Funeral Home.

Mrs. West passed away on Easter Sunday, April 16, 2017, at the Sanger House Assisted Living Facility in Sanger following a battle with Alzheimer’s disease.

Clarenda was born in Denton on September 20, 1943 to Charles and Lois Barnett. She grew up in Denton and graduated from high school in 1961. Clarenda earned a Bachelor of Arts with a major in history and a minor in government-sociology & English from Texas Woman’s University in 1964.

In 1965, she married Jack Upton with whom she had her only child, Carri Lea.

Clarenda spent her working career teaching English at several schools. She started at Irving followed by stints at Vernon, Pasadena, Argyle, North Texas State University, Little Elm and Valley View where she spent most of her career and continued to teach there until retirement.

In 1979, Clarenda earned a Master of Arts in English from Texas Woman’s University. Her thesis was titled James Jones’s From Here to Eternity, The Thin Red Line and Whistle: A Trilogy.

In 1988, Clarenda married Benny West to whom she remained married until his death in 2011.

While teaching at Valley View, she taught high school English and directed the One-Act Play which she loved as it was a passion of hers that extended beyond the classroom. After retiring from Valley View, she taught English as an adjunct faculty member at North Central Texas College.

Clarenda enjoyed reading books, watching classic films & westerns, tending to flowers and caring for numerous pets over the years.

Clarenda was a Christian.

She was preceded in death by both of her parents, Charles and Lois Barnett; brother Charles Barnett; husband Benny West; and most recently her daughter Carri Lea Upton.

She is survived by stepdaughter Carrie Cheaney and her husband Thomas, step grandchildren Bradley & Emily Cheaney, eight first cousins, sister-in-law Annelle Pope, brother-in-law Delbert West and wife Nancy, brother-in-law Bobby West and wife Debra.

Special thanks is extended to Clarenda’s first cousin, Mike Hanes, who graciously stepped in to serve as her legal guardian and faithfully represented her best interests as she endured Alzheimer’s disease.