Mary Barton

She was born in 1923, at the family farm near Amarillo as Mary Barbara Simon and was the second of three daughters. She graduated from Canyon High School, attended West Texas State College in Canyon, and Blynn Business College in Brenham, Texas. She moved to Houston in 1942, where she married Clarence Barton, her husband of 50 years.

Mary was a Panhandle farm girl during the dust bowl. As a young girl, in addition to farm chores, she was the bookkeeper and family’s seamstress. She learned, and throughout the rest of her life tried her best to teach everyone else, the hard-wrought values of conservation, environmentalism, thriftiness, social justice, and nature’s beauty in all earth’s conditions. She lived by her rules and tried her mightiest to instill them in her children and grandchildren.

A forty-year member of St. Christopher’s Parish, Mary was a Girl Scout leader, a Cub Scout den mother, and was active in parish work.

She worked for the University of Houston for 27 years, and retired from a long held position in the College of Humanities & Fine Arts. After retirement, she and her husband traveled extensively through Europe and camped throughout the United States. In 1987 they moved to Clear Lake City where they were active in St. Bernadette’s parish life.

A determined birdwatcher and naturalist, Mary volunteered at Armand Bayou Nature Center for many years, serving as a bird-watching and trail guide and giving wildflower demonstrations.

Mary is preceded in death by her parents, Anton Henry Simon and Anna Eva Ring Simon; her husband, Clarence Ernest Barton; and her sister, Ruby Lillian Simon Smith.

She is survived by her sister, Betty Ann Simon Dietz, her children, Pamela Barton and Donald Barton, her grandchildren, Joseph Linbeck, Janet Barkis, Nicole Linbeck, Catherine Barton, and Anna Barton, and her great-grandchildren, Joshua Earles, Stephen Barkis, Matthew Barkis, Zachary Earles, Nicholas Barkis, and Sydney Hill.

The family would like to thank the Visiting Angels care team and the staff of Emeritus Assisted Living (Clear Lake) for their kindness, diligence, and patience in caring for Mary in her last months.

Visitation will be held on Monday, May 5, 2014 from 5:00 – 7:00 at Forest Park East, in Webster, Texas. A funeral mass will be held onTuesday, May 6, 2014 at 10:00 at St. Bernadette’s Catholic Church in Clear Lake City. The interment will be private. A gathering of family and friends will be at St. Bernadette’s Parish Life Center.

"in lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Armand Bayou Nature Center, 8500 Bay Area Blvd, Pasadena, TX 77507; or to St. Bernadette's Catholic Church, 15500 El Camino Real 77062."