Rodgenell Fee, 94, of Houston, passed away on June 24, 2018 at the Elm Croft Assisted Living. Funeral services will be held on Sunday, July 1, 2018 at 2:00 p.m. at the chapel of Coker-Mathews Funeral Home with Rev. John Foster officiating. Burial will follow at Memoryland Memorial Park. Visitation will be from 1:00 p.m. until the service at the funeral home.
Rodgenell was born on December 13, 1923 in Merit, Texas to Hubert and Bonnie Pendleton Sumrow. In 1946, she married Oscar David Howell in Greenville, Texas. After 20 years of marriage, they separated and she later married Jack Fee on September 8, 1972 in Greenville, Texas. She worked for the Harris County Sheriffs Department, where she was the first female ever to be admitted in the Harris County Sheriffs Academy. After graduation she went on patrol and worked her way up to Corporal. As a love for basketball, she was one of the first female professional basketball players ever in a bill signed by the President. She was a former member of Highland Terrace Baptist Church.
Rodgenell is survived by her son, David Howell and wife, Becky; brothers, Medford Sumrow and wife, Pat, Royce Sumrow and wife, Willie Kate; grandchildren, Bobby Howell and wife, Amber, Spencer Howell and wife, Michele and Jannis Hill and husband, Ronnie.
She was preceded in death by her parents; husband; son, Jerry Howell; brothers, Clois Sumrow, Hubert Harold Sumrow; and sister, Jean Andrews.