Mary Von Kenyon's Obituary
Mary Von Davis McNeil Kenyon passed September 3, 2021. She was born on April 16, 1928, in Pine Forest, Texas to Ruth and Paul A. Davis. She was raised in the dairy and farmlands of Hopkins County until moving to Dallas during the war years where she graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in 1946. Her family was poor, and she picked cotton as a little girl. She had snow white hair as a child and was nicknamed “Cotton”. Living on the farm, she tended the vegetable plot and always believed only the poorest of the poor ate from their own organic gardens. A perfect larder to her was stocked with cans and cans of food products as she believed it indicated a better status in life.
She met and married Max Wendell McNeil on January 24, 1948, and they made their home in the growing suburb of Garland as one of the newest members of the Dr Pepper family. Mary was very involved with the First Methodist Church of Garland, keeping home and hearth together in a very organized manner. Her two children kept her on her toes; she referred to the new “Northwest Highway” as the “Nervous Road”, not allowing any talking or movement whatsoever while traversing the infamous thoroughfare. She refused to drive on Central Expressway at any point, circuitously winding her way along the back roads until magically appearing in downtown Dallas.
Introduced to a handsome Marine pilot in 1947, she and Max McNeil were married in Dallas, Texas January 24, 1948. Two children followed, a daughter Penny McNeil Honer and a beloved son Kenton Eugene McNeil. They lived in Florida, Mississippi, Arkansas, finally settling in Texas, the headquarters of Dr Pepper at the time where Max worked. Immediately enveloped into the culture of soda pop, they became dedicated members of the Dr Pepper family.
The year after Kennedy was assassinated, a company plane crash took the lives of several Dr Pepper executives in November 1964, including Max. Mary remarried another Dr Pepper executive William Charles Kenyon, who became the love of her life. They were married for 42 years before his death in 2010.
Mary believed strongly in higher education. She was a devoted wife and mother to her to children and to her stepdaughters, Gaile and Kay. She attended SMU in her later adult years and loved every minute of it. She was a meticulous organizer, an early version of Marie Kondo. She kept records of everything, dated prescriptions and packaged foods with an indelible marker, and was genuinely shocked that others did not do so too. Crossword puzzles were her forte and she worked one every day until her death. She had an iPhone and could text and send pictures with the best of us. Stocks and gold prices were checked every morning while the evening news was watched beginning at 4 o’clock until Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune, a giant glowing neon word-guessing game, took over at 6:30. She read book after book on her iPad, but did not trust the electronic media to give her the true news. She and Bill traveled all over the world with the University of Texas Flying Longhorns traveling organization. That coupled with good food and gardening were the highlights of their life together. Mary had the greenest of thumbs, a gift not passed down to her children unfortunately.
She was the last to join her family. Her brothers, Clyde, Paul, Dub and Bruce with sisters Margaret, Bonnie and Beulah went before. She especially missed Paul who could always make her laugh.
She is survived by her son and daughter, Ken McNeil and his wife Togiang; Penny Honer; her granddaughters Erin Swearingen and her husband Bryan with great grandchildren Tara, Ty and Luke Swearingen; Mary-Elizabeth Honer and partner Matthew Morales; stepdaughter Gaile Kenyon with grandchildren Chase and Miles Sovell; stepdaughter Kaye Kenyon; grandchildren Hoang Theo Tran and wife Franchesca; Viet Tran and wife Cathy with great grandchildren Emma and Peyton; Nam Tran and wife Mary; and granddaughter Thein and Lap Tran with greatgrandchildren Zach and Emerson.
Services are Monday, September 13, 2021, at Restland Funeral Home in Dallas, Texas, viewing at 1:30 p.m. and Graveside Services at 2:30 p.m. Donations may be made to the First Methodist Church, Garland, Texas.
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