Mary Elizabeth Bray's Obituary
Mary Elizabeth (Kolb) Bray passed away peacefully in her sleep on Thursday, December 15, at Crown Point Health Suites in Lubbock, Texas. She was 97. Her family and friends will remember her for her beautiful spirit, boundless energy, gracious hospitality and accepting outlook. She distinguished herself in life as an orchestra violinist, a skilled seamstress and knitter, and an active member of a United Methodist Church congregation wherever she lived. Mary was born August 7, 1919, in Ola, Arkansas, to Nettie Emelia Miks and James Reuben Kolb. As a child, Mary moved with her family to Wichita Falls, Texas. She was the second of four children: her older sister, Frieda Zulema, her brother, James Reuben Jr., and her younger sister, Grace Amelia. At age 9 Mary’s parents bought her a violin, which she began studying and played throughout her life. Upon graduating from Wichita Falls High School, Mary attended the Kansas City Conservatory of Music, where she continued her violin studies and became concertmistress of the orchestra. She then studied violin at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. In 1940, Mary met her soulmate, Goodwin Bray, when he installed a telephone under her desk in the radio station where she worked. The couple married in June of that year. Their romance lasted for 57 years, until Goodwin’s death in 1997. They received much teasing from family through the years for their devotion to each other and affectionate relationship. Her love of music was matched by her love of dancing. She was the belle of every ball she attended. Her family was a little surprised when her choice as love of her life was Goodwin, who was tone deaf and had two left feet. The couple began married life in Vernon, Texas, where Goodwin worked for Southwestern Bell Telephone Company. His career, which began with installing phones and climbing poles, took them to various parts of Texas – Lubbock, Amarillo, Uvalde, Fort Worth, and, ultimately, Dallas, where Goodwin ended his career in 1974 as an executive in the Dallas office. Mary gave birth to their first child, Mary Carol, in Vernon, and then to David Goodwin Jr. and Joan Elizabeth in Lubbock. In addition to raising the children, Mary nurtured her talent as violinist by becoming a charter member of the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra and then the Amarillo Symphony. In Dallas, she played second chair first violin in the Southern Methodist University Community Orchestra. Music, whether playing the violin, attending concerts in venues all over the country and the world, or listening to a classical music station remained a joy in her life. Mary was the model of an involved and productive mother, wife and community volunteer. She sewed all the clothing for her children and herself while holding leadership positions in the Methodists’ Women’s Society for Christian Service, the Parent-Teachers Association and other community organizations. All the while she knitted innumerable sweaters and afghans as gifts for virtually every extended-family member and close friends. In 1962, Mary and Goodwin bought the Bray family farm in Clarendon, Texas, and began an adventure in raising dry-land cotton and Charolais cattle that lasted until 1989. The first 12 years, though, were while Goodwin still worked for Southwestern Bell in Dallas and the couple drove the 600-mile round trip from their home in Dallas to the farm in Clarendon at least 36 weekends every year, farming a full crop on their 480-acre farm. In 1974, Goodwin retired and he and Mary retired to full-time farming. There they thrived on hard work and entertaining family and friends who visited to enjoy their generous hospitality – particularly the numerous nieces and nephews who would go out of their way to “drop by” the farm. Every summer the five grandchildren – Nedra Bray, Kelly and Mark Hores, and Noel and Kolby Bray-Hoagland — were invited to spend three weeks with Granny and Granddad on the farm. There they roamed the acreage, rode calves, dismantled a tractor, painted the fence, swam in the converted stock tank and watched soap operas with Granny during the after-lunch rest period. The highlight for each as they came of age was being schooled at Granny’s Driving Camp. In 1989, after Goodwin suffered a stroke, he and Mary moved to Lubbock to be closer to health care and David and Canzada, their son and daughter-in-law. Goodwin passed away in 1997. Mary continued to visit her daughters and sons-in-law and grandchildren as she and Goodwin had done over the years. Carol and Chris Jording lived in Wilmington, Delaware, and Joan Bray and Carl Hoagland, in St. Louis, Missouri. Nedra and her husband, Trey Kirk, live in Austin; Kelly Beears lives in Lititz, Pennsylvania; Mark Hores and his wife, Megan, live in Middletown, Delaware; Noel and his wife, Adrienne Beeson, live in San Diego; and Kolby and his partner, Julie Brown, live in Seattle. And she began to join family members traveling in Europe, Africa and the United States, the latter primarily to see grandchildren and great-granddaughters – Hallie and Riley Beears, Corinne and Claudia Hores, and Fiona Hoagland. One unforgettable trip was when Mary, Carol and Joan visited the countries of Mary’s ancestral roots in Poland, Germany, the Alsace region of France and Switzerland, where they met a ninth cousin. Mary sold her home in Lubbock in 2013 and moved into independent living at Grand Court in Lubbock and remained there until three weeks before her death. Mary’s family and friends are celebrating her life for the joy and inspiration she brought to them just by being who she was and treating each of them as someone special to her. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Mary’s name to: Conservatory of Music and Dance at the University of Missouri-Kansas City; https://ecommerce.umkc.edu/giving/ South Plains Food Bank https://salsa4.salsalabs.com/o/51414/p/salsa/donation/common/public/donate_page_KEY=11055 Texas Boys Ranch https://www.texasboysranch.org/ways-to-give/donate. A graveside service will be held on Saturday, December 17, 2016, at Restland Memorial Park at 2:00 PM . Funeral arrangements have been entrusted to Restland Funeral Home and Memorial Park, 13005 Greenville Avenue, Dallas, TX 75243.
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