Robert Clive Stokes

Robert Clive Stokes, Sr. (Bob or Papa), passed away at home on October 8, 2020. Born June 13, 1942, in San Bernardino, CA to Mary Armenta (Mollie) Stokes and Clive Alston Stokes, he spent his early years fishing and enjoying the outdoors in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. At age 11, his family returned to East Texas due to his father’s declining health. After his father passed in 1955, he and his mother moved to West Columbia, Texas to be close to family.

Robert graduated from Columbia High School in 1959. He received his bachelor's in Business Administration from The University of Texas at Austin in 1963 and his Doctorate of Jurisprudence from the University of Houston School of Law in 1966. He served in the Air Force Reserves as a medic at Ben Taub Hospital. During law school he made life-long friends, served on the debate team, and met his future wife, Donna Lee Faust. After a prolonged courtship of two weeks, Robert asked for Donna’s hand in marriage. Donna accepted his offer right away, and they were married for 55 years. 

Robert practiced bankruptcy law for more than 50 years. He retired in 2012 and enjoyed the final years of his life traveling, running, hiking, and visiting friends and family.

Robert was a loving, compassionate person who cared deeply for everyone he met. Family was always first, but he was also committed to his friends, the clients and colleagues of his law practice, and the people he got to know through St. Anne Church, Saint Dominic's, and Texas Children’s Hospital. He was a faithful Catholic and served the Saint Anne community as a Parish Council member, Marriage Preparation mentor, Eucharistic Minister, and Basilian Lay Associate.

Robert was a person with a larger than life sense of humor. He loved to joke and laugh, much to the delight of his family and friends. Robert took great pleasure in creating names for anyone and anything around him, inventing his own language referred to as “Stokesese.” He called his wife Poos, his daughter Fleeta, and his son Super Tweek. Ordinary objects were fair game as well. He called refrigerators Fridgafrators, water Wadoo, beer Beeronga, and Fritos Vitamin F. His kindness, compassion, and extraordinary sense of humor will be passed on for generations.

Robert is preceded in death by his baby sister, father, and mother. He is survived by his wife Donna, daughter Jennifer and her husband Weston Butler, son Rob and his wife Rebecca Stokes, and their respective children — Victoria & Grace Young and Clive & Benton Stokes.

Special thanks to the members of the Star of Texas Hospice and Personal Caregiving Services teams for providing loving support for Robert during his final days.

There will be a visitation at Bradshaw-Carter Funeral Home on Monday, October 12, 2020 from five until eight o’clock in the evening with a Rosary at half past six o’clock.  A funeral mass will be held at St. Anne Catholic Church, 2140 Westheimer, on Tuesday, October 13, 2020, at ten o’clock in the morning.

To view the mass via livestream please click on this link....... https://youtu.be/0bouNCfl8eg  Note: St. Anne is currently having a power outage and is working on resolving it. Livestream may not be available.

 The burial will be at Glenwood Cemetery, 2525 Washington Avenue, on Wednesday, Oct 14, 2020 at eleven o’clock in the morning. In lieu of flowers, donations may be offered to the Basilian Fathers Missions or to St. Dominic's in Robert's memory.