OBIT – Mary Alice Martin

MISSION – Mary Alice Conway Martin, 93, passed away on Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2017.

Mrs. Martin was born on Aug. 1, 1923, in Mission at her family home. A lifelong resident of Mission, she graduated from Mission High School and The University of Texas at Austin and married Scott Martin in 1947. She was a teacher at East Side Elementary School in Mission for several years.

She was a member of St. Paul’s Catholic Church in Mission, St. Paul’s Altar Society, and charter and sustaining member of the Mission Junior Service League where she served as an officer. She served as a Girl Scout leader and Boy Scout den mother, volunteered with the Mission Little League and was active and participated in numerous facets of the Texas Citrus Fiesta for numerous years. She was an “Orange Blossom” in the very first Citrus Fiesta, worked on parade floats, built citrus displays in the window of Conway, Dooley and Martin Insurance Agency and made costumes for the Product Costume Style Show.          She was a volunteer at the Vannie E. Cook Cancer Center in McAllen and at Comfort House in McAllen.

Mrs. Martin gave numerous talks around the community about the early days of Mission. She and her husband are Lifetime members of the Mission Historical Museum. In 2010, she was honored as “First Lady of Mission.”

Survivors include her husband of 69 years; daughters, Rebecca Crook of Mission and Mary Dale Newsome of Fairfax, Va.; and three grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her sons, Michael Conway Martin and David Scott Martin.

A funeral mass was held on Jan. 21 at St. Paul’s Catholic Church in Mission. Burial followed at Laurel Hill Cemetery.

Serving as pallbearers were Arnaldo Corpus, Daniel Crook, Medardo De Leon Jr., Richard Dooley, Scott Dudley, Felix Martinez, Bill Robertson and Charles Zey.