Ernestine Petty Townsend, “Tena” to those who knew and loved her, passed away January 9, 2021 at the age of 92 at La Vida Serena Nursing Home.
Tena was born December 13, 1928 in Paris, Tennessee. An only child, she never missed a day of school, from kindergarten through high school, even though she had to walk two miles to and from school each and every day.
Her family moved from Tennessee to Oklahoma and it was there she would meet Irvin “Ike” Harrison Townsend. The couple was wed October 25, 1952. They traveled through life together for the next thirty years, enjoying one adventure after another, until he passed March 23, 1983.
Those adventures eventually brought them to Texas where Ike would run Nickerson Farms, a chain of restaurants and candy shops, located around the country. It was while working in New Braunfels that the Townsends were approached about purchasing a restaurant in Del Rio – Leslie’s Friend Chicken, better known in the community as the Chicken Shack.
In December 1968, Tena and Ike moved to Del Rio, where they would call home for the remainder of their days.
While at the Chicken Shack, the Townsends did their best to treat every customer with respect. Their waitresses were often the wives of pilots assigned to Laughlin or men who worked on base. The couple would sponsor several classes at Laughlin and earned the nickname Mr. and Mrs. T from the men and women they helped, many of who looked at Tena as a second mother.
After about three years Tena went to work at Val Verde Insurance. That became her eventual career as she worked there until she retired in 1993 at the age of 65. She took care of a lot of Del Rioans while there, greeting them with a smile and always with a bright and friendly disposition. She loved her job and often brought it home with her leading her family to tell her she worked too much. However, once she retired, she decided she wanted to enjoy life and pursued a new passion – traveling.
As long as she could drive or fly, Tena was always on the move. She visited places all across the United States, turning trips to visit family into new adventures with those she loved. She had her favorite places, like Branson, Missouri, which she visited every year, and she did her best to see as much as she could in her travels until her health limited the trips she could take.
Often times she traveled with her lifelong friend, Aunt Bea. Sometimes they’d take her car and sometimes they’d take Bea’s car, but as long as they could get on down the road, away they’d go!
Her other passion was America’s Team – the Dallas Cowboys. She watched every game she could, whether it was by herself or with her family, and cheered them every time.
Described as the ultimate life of the party and the most cheerful and positive person you’d ever met, Tena is survived by her sons, Robin Townsend of San Angelo and Tod Townsend of Del Rio; her daughter, Terri Townsend of Del Rio; her cousin, Cheryl Duck of Tennessee; and her closest friends, Mary Wilde, Sherry Evans, Ginger Davis and Soveida Pimentel.
As per her final wishes, she will be cremated and her ashes sprinkled over Ike’s grave in Konawa, Oklahoma. No public memorial is planned at this time.
