Phoebe Hughes

Phoebe Foster Hughes, widow of Maury Hughes, Jr., died on June 1st, 2026, in Austin, Texas. She was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma on August 18, 1926, the daughter of William Henry Foster and Carrie Annette Berry Foster, a member of a pioneer Texas family.

When she was twelve years of age the family returned to Texas and settled in Dallas where she graduated from Highland Park High School with High Honors. She attended Monticello College and received her BA degree in mathematics from Southern Methodist University. She was a member of Pi Beta Phi Sorority. Soon after her marriage in 1949, she moved with her husband to Little Rock, Arkansas, where their three children were born. In Little Rock they were members of a group that founded a mission church which grew to be St. Mark’s Episcopal Church. In 1961 they returned to Dallas where they raised their three children and she was a member of The Dallas Junior League, The Dallas Woman’s Club, The Dallas Garden Club, The Garden Study Club, and St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church where she served as president of The Women of St. Michaels and Bazaar Chairman. She was also a member of The Daughters of the American Revolution and The Daughters of the Republic of Texas. She was a member of the sixth generation of her family to live in Texas.

In 1972 the family moved to Austin where Mr. Hughes opened the firm of Hughes, Gano and Assoc., Consulting Engineers. She was a sustaining member of The Junior League where she co-founded the Sustainers Transfer Group. She was a member of the Sustainers Garden Workshop. She served on the board of West Austin Caregivers and volunteered for Meals on Wheels, Texas Alliance for Life, Austin Pregnancy Research Center and the Heart Hospital of Austin. An ardent advocate of the sanctity of life, she founded the Austin chapter of Anglicans for Life.

For thirty-five years she was an active member of Good Shepard Episcopal Church where over the years she served as Senior Warden, vestry member, Lay Eucharistic Minister, Lay Reader, Directress of the Altar Guild, Wedding Coordinator, President of the Church Women, and member of St. Anne’s Guild. She was a past president of the Good Shepherd Episcopal School Board of Trustees and continued her involvement with the school by going every morning to prepare snacks for the children. She was a graduate of the University of South’s Education for Ministry four-year program and served as a delegate to the Episcopal Diocese of Texas Council meetings and on the Nominating Committee for the Episcopal Diocese of Texas.

At the time of her death, she was a member of St. Francis Anglican Church where she served the Altar Guild, Prayer Shawl Ministry, and as Coordinator of the parish chapter of Anglicans for Life and was active in her Small Group.

Mrs. Hughes is survived by her children, Phoebe Hughes McMurrey, Carrie Hughes Brown and Maury Hughes III, her nine grandchildren, John Paul Nelson, Mark Foster Nelson, Courtney Rene Hughes, Carrie Hughes Long, Maury Hughes IV, Jossef William Hughes, Hunter Bowman Hughes, Patrick Hughes McMurrey, Jane Allen McMurrey, nine great grandchildren and her sister, Mary Foster Hutchinson of Dallas.

A Funeral Service will be held at St. Francis Anglican Church, 3401 Oak Creek Dr, Austin, TX 78727, US, on June 8, 2026, from 10:00 am to 11:00 am.

A Committal Service will be held at Austin Memorial Park Cemetery, 2800 Hancock Dr, Austin, TX 78731, US, on June 8, 2026, from 12:00 pm to 12:30 pm.