Mary Stuart Hanley Hicks, a resident of Victoria since 1957, passed away May 12, 2021. Memorial Mass will be held on Tuesday, May 18th at 1:00pm at Holy Family Catholic Church. Reception to follow at the Victoria Country Club. A private burial will be held at the Fannin Live Oak Cemetery in Fannin, TX.
She was born May 25, 1927 in Bryan, TX and grew up in Freeport, TX. She attended Our Lady of the Lake College for two years before graduating from the University of Texas with a Journalism degree.
Mary was engaged in the publishing and journalism fields in Austin, Houston, and Victoria. She was an editorial assistant on the Texas State Journal of Medicine in Austin before moving to Houston where she joined the staff at Gulf Publishing Company where she held a similar position on World Oil and Pipeline Industry magazines.
In 1957, she married Charles Scott Hanley, a Victoria banker, and moved to Victoria. While being a homemaker and raising five children, Mary worked for The Victoria Advocate as a reporter and Editor of the Women’s News section for several years. Later she held public relations and marketing positions with Victoria Regional Hospital and DeTar Hospital. She was active in several community organizations and was instrumental in the formation of the Women’s Crisis Center and the remodeling of the first women’s shelter for abused women. Mary also served on the advisory board for Hospice of South Texas.
Among her community endeavors, Mary was the Editor of two community cookbooks: “A Taste of Victoria”, a fundraising project benefitting Nazareth Academy and St. Joseph High School; and “Entertaining in Texas”, a project of the Junior Service League. She also served as a past president of the St. Joseph Mother’s Club.
In 1995, she married Dr. William Morse Hicks, Jr., a local internal medicine physician, who preceded her in death in 2016. Mrs. Hanley Hicks was also predeceased by her parents, May Warren and I.E. Warren, her brother I.E. Warren and sister, Doris Mae Pessarra, her husband, Charles Scott Hanley, and two sons, Charles “Dickey” Hanley, and Patrick Warren Hanley.
Mary is survived by her daughter, Molly Callahan, along with two sons and their spouses, Michael “Frosty” & Patricia Hanley, and Mark & Denise Hanley. Also surviving her are stepchildren Kathryn Spiering, Cindy Lumpkins, and William Morse Hicks III; grandchildren Richard Hanley, Katheranne Hanley, Patrick Hanley, Donald Spiering, and William Spiering; and numerous nieces and nephews.
Memorials may be made to the Hanley Family Endowed Scholarship Fund at St. Joseph High School, Hospice of South Texas, Holy Family Church, or Nazareth Academy.
