Obituary of Naomi Ruth Hinton Lord

Naomi Ruth Hinton Lord died May 15, 2024 at her home in Fort Worth, Texas, surrounded by her family.

She was born on November 12, 1931 in Fort Worth, Texas and grew up on Thomas Place in the now-historic area of Arlington Heights with her parents, grandmother, and beloved older sister. Naomi survived scarlet fever in 1938 at the age of 7, before the invention of antibiotics. After her recovery, all of her belongings were burned as a precaution. She was still miffed about it 80 years later.

She attended South Hi Mount Elementary, W.C. Stripling Junior High and Arlington Heights High School. She was an excellent student: she graduated high school in 1949 as the Valedictorian, then called “highest ranking girl.”

A lifelong member of Arlington Heights United Methodist Church, she played in the bell choir for many decades, but it is also where she also met her husband, Rollin J. Lord. While they had grown up just streets apart, and attended the same high school, they did not meet until they were adults.

Naomi was attending Arlington State College (now UTA) on a full scholarship, and riding the bus every day from downtown Fort Worth. She found out Rollin, her friend from church, had a friend with a car and they had been driving themselves to school in Arlington, which was much better than taking the bus. She asked her mother if she could ride with them, all parties agreed this would be better than the bus, and the company was much nicer too.

After graduating with high honors and an Accounting degree from North Texas State College (now UNT), she and Rollin married on June 20, 1953, honeymooned in Nassau (she wore a pink silk suit on the airplane), lived in Anniston, Alabama for the summer, and then moved to College Station where Rollin was finishing his degree in Architecture at Texas A&M. They lived in married student housing and Naomi taught typing and English at A&M Consolidated High School.

In Fort Worth, Naomi was a member of the Waverly Park Garden Club, where she earned multiple ribbons for roses. She was a Bluebird and Camp Fire Girl leader for 5 years (as well as being a Camp Fire girl herself; she learned WWII was over while at El Tesoro Camp). She was an avid bird watcher, and an accomplished outdoorswoman: camping, water and snow skiing, canoeing, tennis, and sailing were all activities she enjoyed. Naomi was always well-prepared for any adventure: hat and sunscreen in hand, she always brought snacks and good cheer.

She enjoyed her time as a member of the Jr. Woman’s Club of Fort Worth, The Woman’s Club of Fort Worth and their affiliated groups: Shakespeare Club and Harmony Club.

She maintained an active social calendar full of bright relationships that spanned 60+ years: the gatherings had names like Eating Club, Discussion Group, and Duplicate Bridge. These meetings initially had books to read and topics to discuss, but eventually devolved into updating everyone about their families over good food and drinks.

Naomi seized opportunities for fun, and often. Though she was a child of the depression and quite frugal, she did not shy away from collecting experiences. She flew to see her new granddaughter every 6 weeks, she delighted in visiting Yellowstone in the winter, she “camped” at the Hilton Anatole for several days every year to attend a WTA pro tour stop.

Her adventures took her down the Colorado river through the Grand Canyon, across the plains of the Masai Mara in Kenya, along the railways of the mountains of Canada, through the azure waters of the Caribbean, a bustling Acapulco, Mexico City and Puerto Vallarta in the 1970's, the islands of Hawaii, Alaska, and almost every navigable river in the state of Texas. She visited every single place her daughter Laura ever lived. She had a favorite seat she booked on every flight, she always ordered the seafood plate from American Airlines in advance.

Naomi was an avid amateur tennis player, playing twice a week or more for 40 years. She enjoyed singles, doubles, and mixed doubles, only stopping when diagnosed with breast cancer (from which she made a complete recovery). She traveled to many stops on the pro tennis tour, always taking her well-packed picnic basket and mobile bar.

After a morning of tennis she would often go to Kincaid’s on Camp Bowie for a hamburger. Eventually they would call out “NAOMI BURGER!” when she walked in: junior hamburger, all the way, with grilled onions, cooked rare. When it was revealed this may not be the safest thing to consume, she responded that Kincaid’s does a good job with their meat, it was fine, she would not be changing her order.

She knew every species of bird in the area, every wildflower by name, and was an excellent gardener who was known for her truly magnificent tomatoes. She liked all kinds of chocolate, perfectly poached eggs, ribeye steaks (every Tuesday), filtered water before it was a thing, and freshly-shelled peas.

An exceptionally permissive grandmother, she found no fault with her grandchildren, ever. She hosted them for weeks at a time in the summer, she made fried chicken and chocolate pie upon request, she overpaid them for mowing the lawn.

She was fond of saying that we had such a nice family, but she is the one who made things nice. Naomi was exceptionally gifted no matter her role, with a talent for effortlessly making all feel welcome, loved, and appreciated, across decades, generations, and ways of life.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Jesse and Ena Hinton, sister, Annabelle Walker, brother-in-law, Richard Lord, and sisters-in-law, Jackie Lord and Marie Lord.

She is survived by her husband of nearly 71 years, Rollin J. Lord; their daughter, Laura McCleskey, and son-in-law, Gene McCleskey; grandchildren, Rollin McCleskey (Eden) and A’Dell Stevens (Chris); , and 5 great grandchildren, Claire Stevens, Charlotte Stevens, Jess McCleskey, Preston Stevens, and Austen McCleskey; also her brothers-in-law, Steven Lord and Mike Lord (Cindy); sister-in-law, Janice Lord; nieces, Susan Freel, Mimi Lord, Kim Lord; and nephews, Jess Mason, James Mason, Scott Lord, John Steven Lord, Jimmy Lord, Guy Lord, Steven Lord Jr., and Edmund Lord.

Memorial Service: 2:00 p.m. Friday, May 24, 2024 at Thompson's Harveson & Cole Funeral Home, 4350 River Oaks Blvd. 

Memorials: In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to Tarrant County Meals on Wheels  ( https://mealsonwheels.org/donate/ ), which was a great help in her last years, and allowed her to remain more comfortable at home. 

The family would like to thank Dr. Allan Kelly for making her last years the best they could be.