Mary Findley Brockette

Mary Winnette Findley was born Feb. 12, 1917 in Hillsboro, Texas, the daughter of Oscar H. and Gretta (Bosley) Findley. Her father was a fireman, but he also worked in his father's grocery store and sold grocery orders to the small stores in the county. Gretta stayed at home and raised Mary and her two brothers, Carl and Harold.

Hillsboro was a small town. Mary grew up playing with her cousins and eating homemade ice cream. After high school she worked at the Hill County Courthouse where she met Geraldine Thompson. Gerry wanted Mary to meet her cousin, Marlin Brockette. They dated, fell in love and were married March 12, 1943, during WWII. Marlin was a lieutenant who fought in France, Belgium and Germany. It was a hard time for both of them, but he returned and they shared 57 years of marriage. When their daughter asked her father what was the most important historical event during his life, he immediately replied, "Marrying your mother!"

Mary had been raised in the Church of Christ, but Marlin's father was a Methodist minister, so she jumped enthusiastically into the new denomination. She fixed so many dishes for pot luck suppers and to take to the homes of the bereaved, that her son, Bob, once saw her icing a cake and asked, "Is that for us or the church?"

Marlin was a school superintendent in Hillsboro, but he accepted a job in Orange, Texas in 1959. They bought a house on Inwood and Mary adopted two more daughters, Betty's friends Suzie and Marianne. They lovingly refer to her as Mary B. Mary was again active in her community and church.

Mary's father, Oscar, died in 1962 and she moved her mother to Orange to care for her after a heart attack. Gretta died in 1963. Both parents were in their early 70's.

Mary and Marlin instilled their values and beliefs in their children, but encouraged them to find their own direction. Betty became a school librarian, Merlin spent 30 years caring for the disabled and Bob is the music director at the Austin Waldorf School. Buddy (Merlin) spent two years raising white mice in the utility room of their garage. He and his friends extracted nicotine from cigarettes and checked its effect on the mice. Mary dealt with the mess and the occasional escapee. Learning was highly valued. She allowed Betty, Marianne and Suzie to experiment in her kitchen, do "projects" on her sewing machine and spread their "paper doll houses" all over the garage. When Bob decided he wanted to play the violin, Mary wrote to her aunt in California and Nadine shipped her violin to Austin so Bob could begin lessons.

Once the children were older, Mary and Marlin began to travel. They took the family to the World's Fair in New York City in 1964. Marlin often had educational conferences during the summer, so they went to San Francisco, New Orleans, Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon. There were no seat belts, so the three kids had the back seat to "fight over" causing frequent rebukes from the front seat!

In 1967 Marlin took a job at the Texas Education Agency in Austin, Texas, eventually becoming the Commissioner of Education. They bought a house on Mt. Bonnell, joined St. John's Methodist Church and Mary became a member of the Optimistic Garden Club. She served as the clubs representative to the Austin Area Garden Council at Zilker Botanical Garden for over 20 years.

Both of Mary's brothers died in their 50's; Harold in 1970 and Carl in 1976. It would have been devastating to her if not for Marlin's family. He had 3 sisters (Fran, Margo and Mary Ruth) and a brother, Claude. When she married Marlin, she became part of their extended family. From then on she had "sisters".

Once the children were grown, they traveled. They reconnected with Marlin's Big Red One Army Company and went to Europe with them for the 50th anniversary of D-Day and WWII. Later they spent 4 weeks in England and Scotland with all of Marlin's siblings and their spouses. They traveled with their daughter and her family to Germany, Italy and France spending a week with Merlin who was in Switzerland. Road trips were such a joy to them that they would often pack up and drive to Virginia to spend a few weeks with Mary Ruth and Bill Cruise.

Mary became a widow May 2nd, 2000 when Marlin died of kidney failure and cancer. She suffered a stroke in 2004, but continued to live in their house on Mt. Bonnell. She was an active member of her garden club and was still delivering Meal-on-Wheels at the age of 88…but she was lonely. She moved into the independent living section at the Heritage at Gaines Ranch in 2005 and made some wonderful new friends. At the age of 90 she even learned to play pool! She, Joan and Imogene had a discussion at dinner one night and decided that "women didn't used to play pool, but times had changed".

At the age of 95, her family noticed signs of dementia. She had several falls that summer and moved into assisted living. In September she had another stroke and moved into the Summit at Westlake. The house across the street from Betty became available at the same time that her son, Merlin, was looking for a new direction for his life. Merlin spent 30 years working with the handicapped, so he moved to Austin, they fixed up the house and Mary moved in with him in Feb. 2013. Merlin became her main caregiver with help from Betty, Bob and Merlin's daughter, Kaira. It was a wonderful year! Mary loved to go out to eat at Dan's Hamburgers, Luby's, Maudie's and Bamboo Garden. She was always ready for a drive in the Hill Country or a trip to a garden center. Merlin would say, "Go?" and she would say, "Where's my purse?" She maintained her positive outlook on life to the end. Her favorite phrases were "You all take such good care of me." and "I am so lucky."

Mary is survived by her children Betty Hager (husband, Stacey); Merlin Brockette; and Robert Brockett (wife, Wendy). She has 5 grandchildren: Scott Hager (wife, Michelle), Mary Alice (Hager) Johnson (husband, Shannon), Kaira Brockette, Nathan Brockett and Christopher Brockett. Her great-grandchildren are Nicholas, Sabrina and Alyssa Hager. Her surviving "sisters" are Margo Cowan, Mary Ruth Cruise and Bennie Brockette. She will be missed by her cousins, Virginia (Findley) Munroe and Kenneth Smith, her sister-in-law, Virginia (Bankert) Findley and by a very large number of nieces, nephews and friends.

The family would like to thank Hill Country Home Health and their excellent staff for help in caring for our mother at home. Equal thanks go to Heart of Texas Caregivers, especially our friend, Renee Thomas. Also, we could not have kept mother at home until the end without Odyssey Hospice Care. Thanks to all of you.

Family Visitation will be held at Weed-Corley-Fish Funeral home on North Lamar, Friday, March 14th from 6 – 8 pm. The funeral will be at St. John's Methodist Church on Koenig Lane at 1:00pm, Saturday, March 15th with burial to follow at Memorial Cemetery on Hancock Dr. Mother was a "home body" and we invite you to join us at her home for a reception following the internment.

If you wish, donations can be made to St. John's United Methodist Church, Zilker Botanical Garden or Meals-on-Wheels.