Dr. Willingham

Funeral services for Richard Orval "Rick" Willingham, of Plainview and formerly of Sulphur Springs, are scheduled for 10:00 a.m., Thursday, February 14, 2008, in Plainview, Tx., at Kornerstone Funeral Home, 3605 SW 3rd Street.

A memorial service has been planned for Monday, February 18, 2008, at Murray-Orwosky Funeral Home Chapel in Sulphur Springs, at 2:00 p.m. Visitation will be from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m., prior to the service.

Mr. Willingham, a former Hopkins County Veterinarian, passed away on Friday, February 8, 2008, at his residence. He was born on August 25, 1949, in Ft. Worth, Texas, the son of Orval and Erna Willingham. Dr. Willingham graduated from Boyd High School in 1967, and received his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine in 1975. He served as a Captain in the U.S. Army Veterinary Corps before settling in Sulphur Springs, where he was a mixed animal practitioner at Hopkins County Veterinary Clinic, for 24 years. He moved to Plainview in 2002, where he served as a herd veterinarian for Dairy Fountain. He also maintained a herd of registered Angus cattle and loved working on his farm.

Survivors include: his wife, Terry Chisholm Willingham, of Plainview; three daughters, Alexis Vaughn and husband Joe of Little Elm, TX, Kate Tsai and husband Jason of College Station, and Callie Willingham of Maricopa, Arizona; a grandaughter, Alyssa Tsai of College Station; his parents, Orval and Erna Willingham of Boyd; and a sister, Judy Russell and husband Robert and their children, Megan Caldwell, Victoria Russell and Robert Carson Russell.

He was preceded in death by his first wife and mother of his daughters, Dr. Jackie Willingham, in 1985.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorials be made to a memorial scholarship fund, in Dr. Willingham's name at the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine, (Office of the Dean, TAMU-CVM, Suite 101-VMA, College Station, Texas 77843-4461; telephone (979)845-5051.