Mary Morrison

Mary Ann Morrison passed away August 21, 2010, surrounded by her family and friends at Lea Regional Medical Center, Hobbs, New Mexico, following a long illness. She was born January 19, 1916 in Brown County, Texas. A memorial service will be held Wednesday, August 25, 2010,at First United Merthodist Church CHAPEL with Pastor Darren Skinner officiating.

Mary Ann Windham was born January 19, 1916, in the rural home of her uncle, Dr. H. C. Bowden, a country doctor in the community of Byrds, Brown County, Texas. She was the daughter and only child of William Oscar Windham and Essie Cook Windham. She was always very proud of her ancestors and later served for many years as a member of the Windham Cemetery Association.

Her Windham ancestors were pioneers in Brown County. Her greatgrandfather, John Darby Windham was reported to be the first doctor in Brown County when he and his family arrived in the 1860s. Her father, Bill, died in 1919, a victim of the great flu eopidemic of 19181919. Mary Ann and her mother remained in the Byrds area with relatives until they moved to Coleman, Texas, where Mary Ann graduated from high school in 1932.

While working at Camp Bowie, a prewar base near Brownwood, Texas, Mary Ann met a civilian contractor named James J. W. Morrison. They were married in September, 1941. Over the war years, they worked on several government projects in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Amarillo, Texas, and then spent several years living in Chihuahua, Mexico, where Jim worked on the Pan American highway project. One of Mary Anns fondest stories was of having been friends with one of Pancho Villas many wives.

Retiring to Hobbs in 1992, where son Jim was a captain on the police department, Mary Ann launched into an active new life in Hobbs. She volunteered for years with the Good Samaritan Nursing Home and Humphrey House Childrens Home. Mary Ann was a lifelong Methodist, being an active member of Trinity Methodist later United Methodist Church in Roswell and First United Methodist Church in Hobbs. She cherished the friends she made there and the strength her religion gave her. Mary Ann was preceded in death by her parents and husband. She is survived by a son, Jim of Hobbs, nieces Beverly Robertson of Snyder, Texas, and Mary Anderson of Placitas, New Mexico, as well as many grand and greatgrand nieces and nephews and caregiver and dear friend Lena Rodriquez of Hobbs. Her wishes were for her ashes to be scattered at the Windham Cemetery in Byrds, Texas, where her ancestors are buried.

It was Mary Anns and the familys request that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the donors favorite charity.

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