Frank Muse

Frank H. "Pat" Muse Jr. Frank Holder Muse Jr. was born February 5th, 1921, to Frank Sr. and Bertha Muse on a farm near Gotebo, Oklahoma. He was the youngest of four children. He died January 23rd, 2016, at the age of 94. His Grandfather nicknamed him Pat and it stuck. When Pat was old enough to leave home, he stayed some with a cousin in Odessa, TX, to help sell and work on Singer sewing machines. He enjoyed traveling West Texas on the selling routes. He would also go to California to help families with harvests. Pat moved to Roswell in 1938, to help his Grandfather and his Uncle Jess operate the Muse Ranch and Riding Stables, that was located at 19th and Washington Street. At that time, 19th Street was the city limits. Pat made friends with many of those that would rent horses to ride. He also worked on some of the area ranches here. He really liked working on the LA ranch east of town and working for the Sacra Brothers. His father, in Oklahoma, his grandfather and uncle here, in Roswell all died about the same time and with no reason to stay in ranch work, he left the ranch life and was hired by Chalmer Holloway in 1950. Chalmer was a superintendent for Valley Building Company. Mr. Holloway really liked Pat and a bond grew between them that would last their lifetimes. Pat worked 18 years for Valley Building Company and Cap Arrington, usually under the supervision of Mr. Holloway. Not long after Holloway Construction began, he hired on, and Mr. Holloway placed him in the Keen Kamper division to build camper shells. Once in a while, they would sell a full-size cab over camper to build, but the shells were the hot item. Pat made a lot of friends while building and selling camper shells. When Keen Kamper closed, Pat stayed on as shop manager for Holloway Construction until 1999, when he retired. Pat loved to say he worked forty-nine years for Chalmer Holloway. In 1950, Pat met and married Mary Dixon. They had four sons; Jesse, Johnny, Joe, and Jimmy. Their marriage lasted fifty-three years until the death of Mary, in 2003. In 2009, Pat suffered a stroke that disabled him greatly. Pat loved to fish and hunt, and he enjoyed the time he spent doing that, with two of his nephews; Frank and Hiram Muse. When his brother, Stanley was alive, family deer camp, on the north side of the Capitans, was a tradition. Pat could play a fiddle and guitar and he had a singing voice that was surprising to hear. Until dementia really started working on him, he used his singing voice to make the girls at Sunset Villa fall in love with him. Through several periods of time, life for Pat was not easy, especially during the dust bowl and the Great Depression. He lost a lot of close family and friends to illnesses and there were times it seemed he would walk out of one funeral just to go to another. But it developed an important character in him that you don't often see in others. He was a selfless, person always putting the needs of others ahead of his. Pat is preceded in death by his parents; his brother, Stanley; sisters: Lucille; Charlene and step-sister, Vera; his wife, Mary; three sons: Jesse; Johnny; and Jimmy. He is survived by one son, Joe and his wife Jeannie; two grandchildren: Sam Muse and his wife Amanda; Pamela Meredith and her husband Jake; one cousin that just left Roswell and moved to Albuquerque, Charles William Muse; numerous nieces and nephews and six great-grandchildren. The family wants to thank Sunset Villa for the professional care and attention they gave Pat. They always kept him comfortable. The family wants to give special thanks to the Holloway family for the love they had for Pat, and the things they did to show that. Wes and Chuck, you two and your parents, will never be forgotten. Because Pat outlived almost all of his family and close friends of his time, no funeral is planned. Family and friends left behind are invited to a memorial gathering, and lunch at Golden Corral, 2624 N Main St Roswell, NM January 30th, at 1pm. Please keep Pat in your thoughts and prayers and remember the pleasant things about him. May he never be forgotten. Obituary lovingly wrote by Pat’s Family. Please take a moment to share your thoughts and memories of Pat with his family in the online register at andersonbethany.com. Services are under the direction of Anderson Bethany Funeral Home and Crematory.

Frank Muse

January 23, 2016