Mary Mcelreath

Graveside services will be held for Mary Jean McElreath at 10:00am on August 17 at the Morrow Family Cemetery north of Muenster.  Due to virus precautions, there will be no indoor services preceding the burial. Mary Jean died peacefully on August 12, her 87 ^th birthday, after a battle with dementia.

Those who knew Mary Jean remember she was happiest in the kitchen.  She loved holidays, and she loved baking.  October meant homemade popcorn balls for trick-or-treaters.  December was spent making assorted homemade candies for friends and neighbors.  The rest of the year was filled with elaborately decorated birthday cakes, plus the occasional wedding or anniversary cake.  Most of all, people remember Mary Jean for her decorated sugar cookies, which were often seen at parties, events, and bake sales in Muenster and Gainesville.

Mary Jean Ingram was born August 12, 1933, near Pilot Point, Texas. When she was an infant, her Uncle Ed held her in his arms and called her “precious.”  It was a word her two-year old sister Helen could not pronounce, and it came out as “peppy.”  The name stuck – for life.  Mary Jean’s nickname became Peppy for the entire Ingram family.

When Helen was old enough to start school, Mary Jean threw a tantrum.  If Helen could go to school, why couldn’t she?  The rules were a little looser in those days, and the teacher told her mother, “If she wants to go to school that badly, then let her tag along.”  She did, and it gave her a big head start in life.  She went on to graduate as valedictorian of Collinsville High School at age 16, and from there, she studied business and accounting at North Texas State College (now the University of North Texas).

Mary Jean married Austin Grady McElreath on September 25, 1952, and she moved into a farmhouse north of Muenster that would be her home for more than 60 years. Though she had grown up in a family with a long Methodist tradition, she left to join her husband’s church, Marysville Baptist.  She was active there throughout her adult life and relished her role as a children’s Sunday School teacher.

Soon after she married Grady, she put her accounting skills to use in the business office at the Linda Jo Shoe Company in Gainesville.  She worked there until the mid-1960s when she left to start a family. Her last year was spent training a male replacement for her job.  He was hired at twice her salary.  It was an indignity of that era that she never forgot.

After her son Brent was born, she never returned to full-time employment. In addition to her baking hobby, she focused her time on activities that were important to her.  In the 1970s, she served as a precinct chairman for northwest Cooke County until the voting precincts eventually merged in Muenster.

Mary Jean was also an involved room mother in Muenster Public Schools.  One morning after Brent left for school, the phone rang.  A desperate principal was calling in a pinch. He needed a substitute teacher that day, and none of his regulars were available.  Mary Jean had found a new calling.  She spent years after that working as a substitute teacher and enjoyed every minute of it.

Another call for help came in the 1980s. Juanita Bright was leaving her board seat with the Cooke County Heritage Society and wanted Mary Jean to replace her.  Another chapter in Mary Jean’s life began.  In this new role, she became an active fundraiser for the Morton Museum and for the restoration of the Santa Fe Depot in Gainesville.  Her work with the Cooke County Heritage Society continued through the 1990s.  Mary Jean eventually tapped Mary Bartush to replace her on the board, and she was always so proud of Mary’s dedication and hard work in that role.

After Mary Jean’s husband Grady died, she scaled back her activities, though she still volunteered her time at the Muenster Museum, at Germanfest, and as a children’s Sunday School teacher.  As her mobility and eyesight declined, Mary Jean relocated to Wheeler Place in Gainesville and later to a memory care facility at Wesley Oaks.

Mary Jean was preceded in death by her father O.C. Ingram in 1985, her mother Velma Ingram in 1995, her husband Grady in 2002, an older sister Mildred Landers in 2007, and her closest and dearest friend Melba Ramsey in 2018.

Survivors include her son Brent of Marblehead, Massachusetts, her sister Helen Taylor of Collinsville, and 17 nieces and nephews.

In lieu of flowers the family requests that donations be made to the Morrow Family Cemetery Fund c/o Peggy Sparkman, 101 Bezner Street, Lindsay, TX 76250.