Merry Davellyn Boykin

Merry was an only child. Her father worked for City Service Oil Company during the Great Depression, and she and her parents lived in at least five small towns in West Texas (Big Spring, Forsan, Grand Falls Royalty, Odessa, and Snyder) as she grew up, due to her father's job. She graduated from Snyder High School in 1951.

After graduating from college, Merry moved to Corpus Christi, TX. There, she met and married Robert Stith Boykin, a petroleum engineer, in June 1961. Merry said she met Robert on a blind date on Friday, January 13, 1961. Robert says he noticed Merry at the Methodist church and wondered why she wasn't present at his square-dancing group, so he checked her out.

Merry graduated with a bachelor's degree in music, specifically piano, from the University of Texas (now UT Austin) and completed a master's degree in music while she worked at Winn Seale Junior High School in Corpus Christi. She worked at Winn Seale as a music teacher and choir director for about 8 to 10 years.

She was an excellent piano player and singer and loved singing even more than playing the piano.

In 1966, Merry and Robert moved to Dallas. They had two daughters (Robina, 1967 and Nancygail, 1972). Merry was a homemaker for many years and taught piano before Nancy was born. When Nancy was in high school, Merry resumed teaching music. She taught at Nathan Adams Elementary and Tom C. Gooch Elementary for about 5 years.

Merry was smart and witty and outgoing. She liked to talk to people and put them at ease. Many years after she retired from teaching music, a mustachioed man approached her at the grocery store and said "I was in your kindergarten music class! Remember me?"

When Merry had surgery in her 60s, she went into the OR wearing a costume Viking hat with fake blond braids (like the cartoon version of an opera singer) and, I think, singing. She also baked treats for her doctors and their staff.

Most of all, Merry was a wonderful and loving mother and wife who was deeply involved in caring for Nancy and Robina. She watched when her daughters went swimming because she thought the lifeguards might be yakking on the phone. She made sure her daughters did their homework and practiced the piano. She made Halloween costumes for them. The family went on trips, including several cruises taken mostly when Nancy and Robina were adults.

Nancy and Robina have both lived at home for much of their adult lives, and Merry was supportive of them throughout.

Merry is survived by her husband, Robert Boykin, and her daughters, Robina Boykin and Nancygail Boykin. They will love her and miss her forever.