Mary McLaughlin Aikman

Mary Elizabeth McLaughlin Aikman died peacefully in the early morning hours of February 16, 2022, at the age of 82 in College Station, Texas. Mary was born on September 29, 1939, in Kilgore, Texas at the epicenter of the East Texas oil boom. Her parents, James McLaughlin and Elizabeth (James) McLaughlin had moved from northwest Louisiana to find a stable place to raise a family in the lingering days of the Great Depression. Mary was joined in 1944 by her brother, James.

After graduating from Kilgore High School Mary attended Stephen F. Austin State University where she studied English and Drama. Mary was a lover of the written word all her life. She married John Aikman after graduation and began teaching high school English. In 1966, Mary moved back to Kilgore with daughter, Dora, born in 1962, she began teaching English and Drama at Sabine High School until Dora’s death in a tragic horseback riding accident in November 1980. At that point in mid-life, her inner world changed in ways that only a parent who has lost a child can understand.

From that point in her life, Mary channeled her love of words into ways to help others. She entered law school at the University of Tulsa, graduating in 1985, and moved back to Kilgore to practice family law. She kept her law practice going until declining health forced her move to Central Texas to be closer to her brother and extended family in 2015. Mary was a life-long member of the First Presbyterian Church and served as Deacon. She was active in her Sunday School. Members sent her a Valentine’s card received two days before her death.

Mary is survived by her brother James McLaughlin, Jr., and wife Dr. Darlene Warrick McLaughlin of Elgin; nephew Patrick McLaughlin and wife Amy of Flynn; and nephew Tim McLaughlin and wife Stasha Kraguljac of Bryan. Other survivors include her cousins David James, III of Humble and Margaret James Washburn of Torrance, CA; and grand nieces and nephews Bailey McLaughlin, Boone McLaughlin, Mason Hardy, Charlie McLaughlin, Piper McLaughlin and Helena Lu Kraguljac; and great-grand niece and nephew Raigh Jean and Kash James McLaughlin. Mary was preceded in death by her parents, James and Elizabeth McLaughlin, daughter Dora Aikman, Aunts Sara James Correll and Ruth James and Uncle David James, II.

If Mary were writing her own obituary it would read like one-part mythic legend, one-part gothic southern horror, and one-part Dr. Suess all mixed together in the most savory tale. We learned from her that no family story should ever be forgotten or suffer from being told twice the same way. We also learned from her that history is everywhere –- objects, places, behind the faces of people on the street, and chiseled into the stones hidden under the overgrowth of neglected graveyards. Her outer world remained an enchanting place for her nephews and nieces, and anyone else with a child’s eye. Everyone should have at least one person in life in whose eyes you can do no wrong. For many of us, she was that person.