Mary Grace Johnson Wilcox

Grace was born in Ciudad Victoria, Mexico to James Wm. Johnson (b. 1863), a Texas Ranger, rancher and plantation overseer in both Texas and Mexico, and Nicholasa Valle. The young couple met in Laredo, Texas and eloped to Ciudad Victoria, Mexico in about 1911.

At less than a week old Grace (with a wet nurse) and her family were 'escorted' across the Texas border in a buckboard by Pancho Villa's Mexican revolutionaries. Between then and the death of her father in 1926 the family moved back and forth between Texas and Mexico, including a short stay in Nashville, Tenn., where her mother Nicholasa died in the 1918 flu epidemic.

In 1918 Grace and her younger brother Bill were placed briefly in the Methodist orphanage in San Antonio then later the family survived the 1919 category 4 hurricane in Rockport, Texas. Grace remembered her dad placing them in a tree above the flooding water and looking up and seeing the tree full of snakes.

After the death of their father Grace and Bill were passed among relatives in Texas, often for help with household chores. Bill even spent some time with the Sanctificationer cult in Belton, Texas. Grace finally found a home with her cousin Imogene Johnson Purdum and helped raise her three boys.

She graduated from Brackenridge High School in San Antonio and then put herself through business/secretarial school. As a young woman she held jobs with American Airlines, Southwestern Bell and Shearson Hammill & Co. In 1929 she was accepted into the International Order of Rainbow for Girls.

She was an accomplished pianist and seamstress - sewing herself Chanel suits from Vogue patterns during her young professional years. She was briefly married to 1st Lt. Col. Kenneth Sanders in Austin. She later moved to San Antonio where she married 2nd Lt. Col Ralph I. Wilcox, a retired WWII glider pilot, in 1947.

With her tenuous background Grace's overriding desire was to have a family and she produced four fine children. A testament to her dedication to her children, she served with the PTA and led both Boy and Girl Scout troops throughout their young lives. Among other talents she passed on were a love of cooking, nature, gardening and an appreciation for all things artistic.

She was active in the San Antonio Conservation Society and was in charge of the French sausage booth for many years in the 1960-70's NIOSA, sewing French peasant costumes for all her volunteers.

She also loved her four-leggeds and we know her beloved dachshund Tinka and her cat Bootsy have welcomed her home.

She was preceded in death by her loving husband Ralph, her son Stanley Mason and her Brother James William Johnson. She leaves in her wake her son Webster (Janice) of San Antonio, daughter Mignon lmken (EH) of Austin, daughter Elizabeth "Tibby" Gold (David) of Taos, NM, and numerous grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews.

Grace will be cremated and her ashes placed with her husband at Ft. Sam Houston National Cemetery in San Antonio and also scattered along the banks of her beloved Nueces River in Uvalde Co., Texas.

At 102 years Grace saw a groundswell of change, from the Mexican Revolution through the Great Depression, WWII, the moon landing, through poverty and prosperity, through accord and discord. She always thought she was blessed. And she blessed us all. Our Amazing Grace.

Donations can be made to her hospice at Altus Foundation, 100 N. College St., Round Rock, TX 78664, Attn: Katarina Wilson.