Member Spotlight

Posted on Sep 19, 2019 in BLOG, Latest News, Member Spotlight, Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , ,

Member Spotlight
Anne Barr
September 2019
by Robin McKinley
 
When you walk up to Anne Barr’s house, you automatically realize that an artistic “doer” lives here.  Despite the 100° September heat, roses gleefully bloom, green vigorous garden areas nestle the house, and neat paths lead you up to the door.  A whimsical cart overflows with blooms.
 
Anne confesses that she even considered art as a profession, but realized she is more of a doer than a visionary.  Instead she got her degree in mechanical engineering.  Now, Anne expresses her artistic side in her gardening.  She is a Master Gardener from Milam County.  She also got her Master Naturalist, but she couldn’t do both so she focused on the Master Gardner program.  As a part of that she went on Master Gardener cruises to Alaska and Paris.
 
With her degree in ME, and her husband, Gary’s, degree in electrical engineering, and their gardening and artistic abilities to boot, they have created an oasis from the bare ground in just one short year. 
 
Anne and Gary moved to Taylor to downsize and to be closer to Austin but not in it.  Before Taylor, they lived for 12 years between Thorndale and Rockdale, near the community of Salty.  They had a spectacular house and garden there.
 
Anne was born and raised in Austin.  She came by her artistic and gardening skills honestly, inheriting them from her homemaker mother.  Her mother always used to say that Anne would be a lawyer because she never stopped asking questions.  Her mother missed the mark on the field, but she was right that Anne would always be asking questions – just as an engineer instead of a lawyer.  Her engineering proclivities came from her father who was a professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Texas (UT).  She had two sisters, nine and ten years older than her, who majored in Art and Sociology at UT.
 
Anne got married to her first husband right out of high school and she got pregnant 4 months later.  Being in the military, her husband was shipped out to Japan soon after and her daughter was born while he was gone.  Anne took Deborah everywhere with her and shared her with everyone.  Luckily, that meant that Deborah wasn’t dismayed when a man she didn’t recognize arrived home from Japan.  Deborah grew up to be a bookkeeper, and she lives in Tyler where now she works for a mobility company (they provide various means to assist people who are mobility challenged from wheelchair to tub to vans.).  Deborah’s husband passed away last Thanksgiving.
 
Her second daughter is Marcy who lives in Cedar Park.  She also married right out of high school and has 4 children from two marriages.  She also followed in her mother’s footsteps by earning two certificates in bioengineering and now works for a small company that does cultures for stem cell research.
 
Her third daughter, Beth, is a software “wienie”, according to Anne.  Beth is a technical manager for a small company that does tech support for POS (point of sale) software.  She has 3 children and also lives in Cedar Park.
 
Family is an important part of Anne and Gary’s lives.  Anne has 3 daughters, 8 grandchildren, 4 greats, and Gary has 4 children, 6 granddaughters and 9 greats.
 
After marrying her first husband, Anne went to Nixon-Clay business school but didn’t continue when she discovered she was pregnant, and he was shipped out to Japan.  After he returned home but still was in the service, she completed 2 years of college in engineering at UT, and math, including one year toward teaching. 
 
When her husband left the military, Anne went back to working full-time to support him while he went to school.  She got a position at Southwestern Bell Telephone doing drafting.  She had printed her application, and when she went to interview, they asked her if she wanted to do drafting.  She agreed and that began many years work doing drafting for various companies. 
 
She worked for Tracor as a draftsman.  Tracor was a consulting company specializing in government contracts for countermeasures to protect aircraft from enemy missiles.
 
Then when the job market got tight, she left the company to free up a position for others who needed the job worse than she did, and went to work for the Chair of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Texas for 2-3 years.  During this time, she sometimes worked part-time, sometimes half-time, and sometimes full-time.  Little by little she also continued working on her degree in Mechanical Engineering.  It took Anne 20 years to complete her degree.  She laughs and says, “I was a slow learner.”  But somehow you don’t get the idea that is really true.  Between supporting her family and raising her girls, study obviously had to take second and third place. 
 
After she graduated, she went back to work for Tracor.  By this time, Gary was also working at Tracor, and he had a strict “no dating colleagues at work” policy.  Gary had gotten divorced two years earlier, and it was a challenging divorce.  Anne offered for him to give her a call if he needed to talk.  One evening, he came over to talk and even though they didn’t date, a relationship was beginning. 
 
Sometime later, Anne got an offer to go to work for OIME (Oil Industry Manufacturing Engineering), which was part of Parker Drilling out of Midland.  She left Tracor, and then she and Gary were married. 
 
After a while, her boss from Tracor kept calling her and wanting her to come back, so eventually she did.  At Tracor she was on the presentation design team, and often had to speak to large audiences about the projects they were developing.  Because the technologies were so new, not many people knew much about them.  To keep the jitters at bay, her boss would remind her that “you know more about this than anyone else in this room does.”
 
Anne worked for several other companies, including teaching at ACC and UT, and at Wayne Dresser working on a project designing the at-the-time emerging “pay at the pump”.  Anne and Gary started a consulting firm combining their skills to serve many clients.  Anne also worked at Applied Materials which she really loved.  “It was a place where you could feel the excitement,” Anne said.  The company built the wafers that were needed to build computer chips.  Anne got to travel to Japan with this position.  Working abroad was challenging but fun.
 
Anne loved best that wherever she was employed the work was never the same: all different kinds of jobs, all different products.  She had travel opportunities to meet lots of neat people and do exciting work. 
 
For vacations, she and Gary also loved to travel, including to England, Scotland, Wales, Hawaii, Tahiti, Paris, Normandy, Japan, Bahamas, and Mexico.  The most fun she ever had was vacations to Hawaii.  She loves the seashore and the mountains and the people and the food especially fresh fish.  She caught a Mahi once, and though it was a lot of work bringing it in, she finally did it and nothing ever tasted better.
 
Anne and Gary joined Taylor First United Methodist Church this spring. Anne was raised Methodist, and she was baptized at Hyde Park United Methodist church in Austin. 
 
She is impressed with the friendliness of Taylor FUMC.  She was greeted most warmly by everybody she says.  She enjoys Sela’s sermons and likes that Sela practices what she preaches.  Anne and Gary regularly attend Beer and Bible.  They also enjoyed helping out at Midnight Basketball and at the Garage sale.
 
Her favorite hymn depends on her mood but she is fond of “When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder, I’ll Be There.”  One day recently, she woke up with the doxology going through her head.  What a great way to wake up!
 
Be sure to trade stories with Anne and welcome her to our Taylor flock!

Member Spotlight

Posted on May 15, 2019 in BLOG, Latest News, Member Spotlight | Tags: 

Betty Brown
Member Spotlight
May 2019
by Robin McKinley
 
Two big brothers, 9 and 12 years old at the time, greeted the birth of Betty Brown in Burnet, Texas.  Her father was a master mechanic and was manager of the Ford dealership parts department in Burnet.  Her mother was an LVN at the local, privately owned by one doctor, clinic and hospital.  A sister joined the family nine years after Betty’s birth.  Betty’s school years were also spent in Burnet. 
 
Betty’s family attended the Church of Christ, and she worshipped there until the 1970s.  Of course, no instruments are allowed in Church of Christ services.  Nevertheless, the beginnings of Betty’s musical ability were established in this church. When Betty was five or six years old, her cousin who had a strong alto voice told Betty she was going to teach her to sing alto.  She sat next to her cousin in choir. “She taught me to listen for harmony,” says Betty.
 
In the fourth grade, she began singing in school.  Then, band became available and anyone could audition.  Winning a spot in the band, Betty played the cornet. The band taught Betty to read music. She was also in the junior high and high school choruses. 
 
When she was in high school, she was invited to join a local trio called the Tom Ren Ray Trio.  Named after the original members of the trio, Tom played the trumpet, Ren played the guitar, and Ray played the organ.  They played and Betty sang for all kind of events.  When her dad found out, he was not at all pleased.  His daughter was never going to go sing in a honkytonk!  Happily for Betty, he finally relented for other venues.
 
After she graduated from high school, she went to Austin, choosing Nixon-Clay Commercial College for her studies. She had received scholarships both there and at the University of Texas at Austin, but UT required that she live on campus and by the time she was accepted, no housing was available at UT.  She planned to go to UT after she finished at Nixon-Clay.
 
When Betty was studying at Nixon-Clay, the Austin TV station owned by Lady Byrd Johnson, KTBC, (Channel 7 now); had an amateur talent contest.  Ray found out about it and told Betty he was going to enter her. “I didn’t have much time to rehearse,” Betty remembers.  But she and the trio had been in many local “Hay Loft” musical shows.  For the contest, she sang “Stormy Weather”.  The winner was based on how many votes the public sent in. Nixon-Clay gave all their students postcards (with a plug for the college) filled in with Betty’s name to submit for the vote.  “We won!” Betty remembers with fond joy.
 
The love of Betty’s life appeared on the scene while she was in Austin, and her life plan changed as life plans do.  She finished a ten-month course of study at Nixon-Clay, and then went to work for the Railroad Commission as a secretary.  Four years later, she married Dwayne Brown on April 6, 1955, and proudly recounts she was married for 55 years and 29 days, until Dwayne’s death.
 
After her marriage, Betty worked as the secretary to the county judge and county attorney from fall 1957 to April 1958.  She loved the work but when Dwayne was drafted and finished his basic training, Betty quit her job to accompany Dwayne to New Jersey where he attended signal school.  Next, he was sent to Korea, and Betty returned to Burnet where Sharon, their first child, was born.  Sharon was just short of 8 months old before Dwayne first saw her.  Sharon initially was singularly unimpressed by this stranger in the house.
 
The family moved to Fort Benning, Georgia. Sharon was soon joined by Carlton and Linda.  These days, Sharon lives in Irving.  Carlton is in the middle, and he lives in Farmers Branch.  Linda is youngest and she lives out of Liberty Hill.  Betty’s children eventually gave her four grandkids – Christine, 31, Brandon, 28, Connor, 24, and Stacy, also 24.  She also has 2 greats: 12-year-old Xavier, and nearly 2-year-old Penelope.
 
In 1959, when Dwayne separated from active duty, the family moved to Austin.  From 1959-63, Dwayne worked for Color Press, a company which published yearbooks.  Betty wasn’t actively employed until 1961 when she typed addresses for bulk mailing at home.  In 1963, Color Press went bankrupt because of cash flow problems.  Dwayne decided to get additional training and they moved to Waterloo, and later to Taylor.
 
Because of several crises in her life, Betty had quit attending church.  About 1975, Betty’s kids started coming to Taylor FUMC with friends, and they sang in choirs through the Sunday School.  One year, they were preparing a Christmas cantata, and the choir was short on altos.  Her kids asked her to come sing.  She sang for the cantata and shortly after she began singing regularly.  A few years later, she joined the church.  Whit Whittington was the preacher, and his wife, Millie Whittington, was a good friend to Betty, and instrumental in her joining the church.
 
By 1977, with her youngest in junior high, Betty began to think of returning to work.  Betty’s dream had been to work with juveniles and she thought the ideal would be a job for the county.  She applied for a county job, and interviewed.  Although she was a good match for the job since she had trained as an executive secretary and had relevant experience, her family had too high an income.  The job was set aside for a low-income family.
 
About this time, the Whittingtons invited her to a party at the parsonage.  Millie knew she was looking for a job.  Millie introduced Betty to a woman who became Betty’s boss for 23 ½ years.  The woman was a nurse practitioner practicing under local physician. 
 
Betty was hired to establish and set up an office in Taylor for her and, of course, “other jobs as assigned.”  The office, named Direct Heath Care Service, was responsible for family planning services in Burnet, Williamson, Bastrop and Fayette Counties.  Betty’s job gave her direct, hands-on contact with young women. The office had few services for women over 40 (Betty was 41).  The youngest client was short of twelve years.  “I was like the older aunt or grandma,” Betty says.  She had gotten the ideal job with juvenile contact that she had wanted. “God delivered the job,” Betty says.
 
After the initial set up, Betty ran the office and did clerical work.  She was also trained for specific tasks such as drawing blood and conducting blood tests. She did pregnancy testing, pap smears, and STD screenings.  In the 1980s, HIV testing and counseling was added to their services. 
 
As a part of her job, Betty remembers fondly her contribution to a manual for family planning.  “I had the privilege of doing the transcribing and a little editing on a publication policy and procedure training manual for family planning workers.  It was the first in state of Texas and was funded by donations.”
 
After joining Taylor FUMC, Betty never looked back.  She says, “I like it that Taylor FUMC has open doors and open arms.  It is a loving congregation.”  Her roots here run deep.  The parsonage was originally given to the church by her mother’s first cousin, Lola Preslar.  Cousin Lola specified in her will that the parsonage be purchased and given to the church.
 
Her singing is still legendary.  Her favorite hymn is “He Leadeth Me” because he does, and the lyrics say so much.  She also loves “It Is Well with My Soul.”  Betty explains, “It tells a lot about me because I went through a period of time when it was not ‘well with my soul.’”
 
What a wonderful legacy Betty brings to our church.  So many have been touched and enriched by her experiences and her life.

Member Spotlight

Posted on Feb 6, 2019 in BLOG, Latest News, Member Spotlight | Tags: ,

Member Spotlight, Cynthia Bryan
February 2019
by Robin McKinley
 
Cynthia Bryan originally hails from Tahoka, Texas where she was born, raised, married and raised her children. Her father managed a service station, and in his later years worked for Lyntegar Electric Coop. Her mother worked for the drug store and was also a talented seamstress. She could see a dress in a store and make a perfect copy. She has an older sister, Kay, who lives in Paris, Texas. Kay is a lung transplant survivor as a result of a genetic lung conditions. Both her parents, and Cindy herself, have the lung condition. Cindy had a hard time with her health this past fall, but is finally feeling better.

Cindy married Joe, and they have two children, five grandchildren and 8 great grandchildren. Her son, Kurt, lives in Abilene. Kurt has 2 stepdaughters, Bethany and Jordan, and a son, Parker. Cindy of course considers them all to be her grandchildren. Her daughter, Kerri, and her husband, Eric, live in Round Rock with their children Grant and Clare.

Joe was a disabled vet who worked in construction after his service, and Cindy worked as a bookkeeper in Lynn County.  Tahoka is the country seat of Lynn County. She was elected the country treasurer for two terms. She loved the people she worked with in the courthouse, and the county commissioners were great – until they were elected and then all good sense went out the window. For the sake of her blood pressure, she decided not to run for a third term.

In 1999, Cindy and Joe decided enough of working, and they sold everything they owned in Tahoka and got an RV and began to travel around the United States. They got to see a lot of the country, and worked at RV parks in the valley of Texas.  The valley hosts lots of people who came south for the winter, lovingly called “snow birds”. Cindy says this is the most fun she ever had. She enjoyed getting to know the snow birds and they played games, and made up games, and generally had a lot of fun.

If money were no object, she would travel all the time. She has so many places she would like to visit, and says there are lots of places still in Texas that she would love to go visit but hasn’t ever been, such as Marfa. She is used to flat land and no trees, and when there are too many trees, she gets claustrophobic, but that still leaves a lot of Texas left to see.

While Cindy and Joe were travelling, they considered Abilene to be their home base. When they moved to Abilene, Joe and Cindy began to look for a church. They had been lifelong Baptists but they visited different churches of different denominations and were moved to join Aldersgate UMC because the congregation was so welcoming and friendly.

Joe passed away in 2012, and Cindy decided to move closer to her daughter and grandchildren. She chose Taylor, and moved here in late July 2018.

She joined Taylor FUMC in September, and she has found this church to be welcoming and friendly like their church in Abilene. She says the entire church is friendly and that Marsha Beckermann, Evelyn Farnham and Vesta Ryan were particularly welcoming to her. She likes being made to feel as if she is part of a family here at the church. 

Her favorite hymns are a result of the two most influential people in her life: her mother and her grandmother. She loves Amazing Grace, even though it is hard for her to sing because it was her mother’s favorite hymn and was sung at her funeral.  Her grandmother’s favorite hymn was Rock of Ages and so that is Cindy’s other favorite hymn.

Cindy’s friends describe her as funny. One said, “Listen to her talk! She says the funniest things.” Cindy admits she is puzzled about what she said that was funny. Her friends say she is loving, trustworthy, caring and giving. Cindy says she has a hard time being trusting. Perhaps that challenge led to her to expend extra effort to be trustworthy and her friends do appreciate that about her.

Her hidden talents include knitting (she says she knits well), crocheting (she says she crochets not so well), and making baby blankets. She makes crib size baby blankets, and sometimes bigger. The one she made for her grandson is so big he can wrap up in it.

In Abilene, Cindy started a ministry for parents who had stillborn premature babies or babies who died shortly after birth. Three sad occurrences led Cindy to begin this work. Cindy lost a baby at five months, and her son lost a baby as well. When her granddaughter lost twins, she knew it was important for the babies to have gowns for their burial as a comfort to the family. But all the preemie size baby clothes were far too big. She asked a lady to make gowns the size of a Barbie doll, but what that lady made was still too big. Using a doll clothes pattern, Cindy kept cutting the gowns smaller until they finally were the right size.

This experience inspired her to make more tiny clothes and donate them to the Tears Foundation, which is an organization that the hospital calls when a family loses a premature infant.  Cindy made preemie gowns, caps and blankets for up to three-pound babies. She hopes to continue that ministry here as well. 

We are so lucky to have Cindy as a part of our church, with all her talents and caring. Make sure you take the time to have a chat with her!


Member Spotlight

Posted on Jan 30, 2019 in BLOG, Latest News, Member Spotlight | Tags: 

Member Spotlight, Susan Maberry
January 2019
by Robin McKinley  
 
Susan Maberry was born in Russellville, Arkansas. Nestled between the Ozark and Ouachita Mountains, Russellville is in the Arkansas River Valley. As a small child, Susan’s family moved around Arkansas, but by the time she was in kindergarten, they had settled in Beaumont, Texas.  Susan lived in Beaumont all the way through high school.
 
Susan’s dad was a physician. At first, he practiced as a GP, but later switched to anesthesiology. Her mother was a school teacher. Her parents met in Floyd, Arkansas, where her mother was teaching at the time. 
 
Susan says she misses the freedom of being a kid. She says, “I used to leave my house and go anywhere I wanted to. No one knew where I was. I was supposed to go to violin lessons, but no one knew and no one cared.” Finally, her mother did find out from the violin teacher that Susan hadn’t been going but she was not upset. “The Lord had to be watching out for me.  I can’t believe I survived,” Susan muses.
 
Susan had four siblings, three sisters and a brother. Her older sister died a few years ago, but her brother and other two sisters live in Austin and Round Rock. Moving closer to them is why Susan came to Taylor.
 
After high school, Susan entered Southwestern University in Georgetown as a pre-med student. She loved science and the technical aspects of pre-med, but decided medicine was not for her. She changed her major but dropped out of school for a while, later finishing her degree at the University of Houston.
 
Susan has one son, Aaron. He works in computers, analyzing and setting up computers for companies. Even as a child, he was brave and would try anything. An adventurous guy, he served in the Navy in the Persian Gulf. His first enlistment was on a ship which was decommissioned, and then he re-enlisted and that ship was decommissioned as well. He has two daughters, Chloe who is 21, and Carly who is 19. They live with their mother in Lee Summit, Missouri.
 
The most fun Susan ever had was raising her son. Susan remembers, “The things that came out of his mouth and the things he thought were so funny. I loved being pregnant, and being with him. I was kind of lonely as a kid so having someone there all the time was wonderful.”
 
At one point, Susan worked at a newspaper in Beebe, Arkansas. Since it was a small-town newspaper, Susan did everything. “It was so much fun,” says Susan. “I got to cover basketball games and chamber dinners. Dinners were great and I got to share in the good food and then write about it.” Susan lived many years in Port Arthur, working at a law firm for 13 years as a billing secretary for two sections of the firm:  labor and intellectual property.
 
Now, Susan keeps herself busy with substitute teaching for lower elementary classes. She reports she loves the “baby-ness” of the students. “They are so cute and sweet,” she says.  She also volunteers for whatever is needed at the church. First attending the 8:30 service, Susan joined in October 2017, and she switched to the 10:30 service when the earlier service was discontinued. She remembers Don Hughes greeting her most warmly and made her feel like someone knew she was there.  She soon threw herself into helping out at this year’s Pumpkin Patch. Susan appreciates the friendliness of Taylor FUMC.  She loves the sharing of joys and concerns, and the passing of the peace. She has gotten to know everyone from these activities in the church service, and from her volunteering. Reluctant to admit to any “hidden talents”, Susan did say she liked to paint landscapes and animals, especially cats and dogs. She also likes to play the piano but, she is quick to add, not for anybody else.
 
Susan has already joined the choir, singing soprano. She has sung in choirs since she was 12. “I loved my high school choir,” says Susan. “It was my outlet.” She still sees friends she made in choir during high school. Her favorite hymn is Amazing Grace. She loves the story of its author, John Newton, who was a slave runner. His conversion experience and grace convinced him to change his life, and to leave the slave trade.
 
Be sure to say a big hello to Susan, and welcome her as a part of our Taylor FUMC family!
 

Member Spotlight

Posted on Apr 4, 2018 in BLOG, Latest News, Member Spotlight |

Member Spotlight
Mary Pearl Sutton
April 2018
 
Mary Pearl Sutton was born in Hutto.  Her grandparents migrated from Sweden, and her grandfather helped build the Methodist Church in Hutto. Mary Pearl was baptized in this church, which is also the very church that was moved recently to a new location in Hutto.  Her grandfather owned the property that now houses the Home Depot in Hutto.
 
Mary Pearl had seen hard times in her life.  Her mother divorced when she was twelve and they experienced some lean times.  She doesn’t dwell on those hard times but rather with her quick laugh and keen sense of humor, she looks at life more philosophically and focuses on the positive things in life.  She prefers to use her fantastic memory to remember many stories about Taylor and the many years she has lived here.  She also uses it to remember all the accomplishments of her daughter and her granddaughters and her great grandchildren, but more about them later.
 
When Mary Pearl was 12, she and her mother moved to Taylor and Mary Pearl began attending school here.  She went through the rest of her school years in Taylor.  Here’s a fun fact from her school years:  when she was a senior in high school, she took American History from T. H. Johnson who was then the football coach at Taylor High School.  The elementary school in Taylor is named after him.  She graduated from Taylor High School.
 
Mary Pearl started working immediately after high school since she had to pay for all her living expenses, including her dry cleaning.  She even paid her share for purchases her mother made for the house such as a new lamp.  She worked at a record shop for eight months, and then was recruited to work for Lone Star Gas as a bookkeeper.   The woman she replaced was leaving because she was expecting.  Mary Pearl and the other employees pitched in to give her a bassinet.  Later, the baby who slept in that bassinet became Mary Pearl’s son-in-law!  Mary Pearl laughs that at the time she never knew that in the future she would have grandchildren who would also sleep in that bassinet.
 
When she had first moved to Taylor, Mary Pearl began attending church at Taylor First United Methodist Church which was then located at 4th St. and Talbot.  She went all through her school years in Sunday School and when she decided to marry in 1946, of course, she chose the old church for her wedding. 
 
Although Mary Pearl had arranged for the ceremony months in advance, the pastor didn’t write the date onto the calendar, so he forgot about it and went out of town. Mary Pearl didn’t find out she was missing a preacher until the rehearsal dinner. Her groom called his mother who arranged for the pastor of Tenth Street United Methodist, Reverend Gill, to perform the ceremony.  He said he was more used to marrying people in front of a Model T Ford than in a church.
 
Needless to say, this left a negative impression on the newly married Suttons.  They transferred their membership to Tenth Street UMC and worshipped there for many years.  However, when their daughter Susan was about 12, she was in a Sunday School class of all boys and the boys teased her so relentlessly that the Suttons decided to return to First UMC.  By this time, First UMC had moved to its new location on Lake Street.  Susan played volleyball during her school years at First UMC.  Mary Pearl has been a member of First UMC ever since.  Her favorite hymn is How Great Thou Art, and her second favorite is Amazing Grace.
 
Mary Pearl has had many fun times in her life.  She fondly remembers a trip her family took in 1964. She and her husband drove to California with Susan, and Shelly, a friend of Susan’s.  Shelly’s family struggled to make ends meet, so this was a great treat for her as well as fun for Susan.  They went to the Disneyland and the Lion’s convention.  The girls had a marvelous time at the park and enjoyed a lot of freedom at the convention interacting with other kids.
 
In 1968, Mary Pearl and her best friend, Peggy, opened a dress shop on Main Street in Taylor selling both misses and juniors dresses, blouses, slacks and lingerie.  They operated the store in the location where the Nest is currently housed.  Mary Pearl’s mother had worked in a dress shop so they had some advice on their venture.  With Mary Pearl’s Susan and Peggy’s three children in school, the two entrepreneurs had a blast operating the shop.  They used innovative advertising techniques, such as using Peggy’s connection with the radio station to get promotions, and also having Susan wear their fashionable dresses and dance in the window of the store.  Susan loved the dancing and also working in the shop which led her to her present career of department store buyer. 
 
The shop allowed Mary Pearl to meet people and visit with them, which she loved.  As a good Swede, she had coffee ready to offer customers.  They went to Dallas to market to procure their inventory and had advice and help from their friend, Dot.  There, Mary Pearl put to use her good shopping talents, and her uncanny ability to put different outfits together.  Mary Pearl smiles, “Many times, people think I have on something new, but I’ve only put my clothes together in a new way.”
 
Mary Pearl was married for 48 years and then divorced.  She has one daughter, two granddaughters, and five great grandchildren – three girls and two boys.  It probably cannot be overstated how important family is to Mary Pearl and it is hard to get her to talk about anything else.  She is very proud of her daughter’s and her granddaughters’ accomplishments, as well as their husbands’.
 
Her daughter, Susan, while in high school, sang in a choral group called the Coryells.  They won first place three years in a row in the school talent competition.  The group also performed at many conventions and meetings. Mary Pearl proudly shows the group’s write up and picture that was printed in the power company’s newsletter.
 
Susan attended the University of Texas and got a degree in Fashion Merchandising.  She lives in Fort Worth and is a buyer for the Texas-based, international chain: Dillard’s Department Store. Susan and her husband have two daughters:  Reagan and Raeley.
 
Reagan with to Texas Tech and then Oklahoma State for 3 years.  She got a masters and a PhD in Child Psychology.  She landed an internship at John Hopkins in Baltimore, Maryland.  She and her husband now live in Fort Worth with their two daughters (Mary Pearl’s great granddaughters), Cara, 5, and Einesley, 6 months.
 
Raeley went to Texas A&M.  She and her husband both went to medical school at North Texas State, and then to Wake Forest, North Carolina for internships.  Then Raeley received a fellowship at Texas Children’s’ Hospital in pediatric intensive care.  Both she and her husband work at Dallas Children’s’ Hospital now.  They have a daughter, Adelynn, and two boys, Hunter, 2, and Nolan, 3 months.
 
With all her own accomplishments, Mary Pearl is most proud of her family’s accomplishments.  She brings much sunshine to her church family.  Be sure to give Mary Pearl a hug and tell her how much you appreciate her being a member of our church family!
 
By Robin McKinley

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