Margery Ruth (Bell) Felps
Margery Ruth (Bell) Felps, 85, of Burnet died July 15, 2011. She was born Feb. 16, 1926, in Bangor, Maine, where she grew up.
She attended the Hammond Street Congregational Church in Bangor, where she sang in the choir. She graduated from Bangor High School in 1944.
She met her future husband Jerome K. Felps not long after. He was stationed at the Dow Army Air Field in Bangor. Her mother volunteered at the airfield and introduced them.
They were married in Burnet in 1945 and joined the Methodist church. The couple lived in Burnet all of their married life.
She was a housewife and mother who helped manage the family businesses for more than 60 years. She taught Sunday School for 46 years.
She was a Girl Scout leader for 10 years. She was a member of the Burnet Pen Chat Club (Federated Women’s Club) for 35-plus years and was president of the club three times.
She was a life member of the Capitol District Federated Women’s Club and served on the Capitol District board for 10 years. She was the treasurer for six years and trustee of the club house in Austin and served as the vice president of the club for two years.
She also volunteered with the Burnet County Fair and Rodeo Association and Friends of the Herman Brown Free Library. She served weekly at the Library Thrift Store for many years and was a board member on the Burnet County Texas Farm Bureau for more than 10 years.
She loved to “go.” She was able to visit her home of Bangor several times during the 1940s and ’50s, riding the train on some occasions. She and her husband traveled the United States many summers, seeing most of the 50 states and several Canadian provinces. They made a world trip in 1980 that included Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Hong Kong, Malaysia and a stop in Singapore to visit with their daughter Lynda and her family. She visited Austria with her daughter Suzie in 1984. She loved the mountains, cross-country skiing and ice skating.
She also loved flowers and animals. She grew beautiful flower gardens and enjoyed visiting flower and botanical gardens. She always enjoyed having a house dog and no matter the size, it was a lap dog. At one time she had 35 cats on the ranch that she fed; only three were “allowed” in the house.
She was known to her family and their friends as Nana.
Survivors include her children Suzanne (Felps) Fiala and her husband Raymond; Lynda (Felps) Lester and her husband Fred; William Lee Felps and his wife Marsha (Mulhollan) Felps; Robert Jerome Felps and his wife Janice (Roberts) Felps; grandchildren Elaine Hyden, Janice (Lester) Maynard and husband Ricky, Nancy (Lester) Dodson and husband Clint, Amber (Felps) Cardenas and husband Max, Tyrel James Felps and wife Amber (Oldaker) Felps, Robert Heath Felps, Lauren Michelle Felps and Lindsey Meredith Felps; and eight great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her husband of 55 years.
A service was July 18 at the First United Methodist Church, 909 N. Vanderveer St. in Burnet. Interment followed at the Felps Family Ranch Cemetery.
Pallbearers named are Barney Baker, Robert Glover, Louis Insall, Marcus Kelley, Chad Mulhollan, Clint Mulhollan, Cody Orman, Dewey Peacock and Jerry Tucker.
Honorary pallbearers named are Kenny Baker, Gene Bird, Ray Cagle, Joe Graves, Mike Kelley, Carroll McCoy, Macyl Orman, Paul Taylor and Brian Whitfield.
Donations can be made in her memory to the Herman Brown Free Library in Burnet or the church.
Arrangements by Clements-Wilcox Funeral Home, 306 Texas 29 East in Burnet, (512) 756-2222.
Online condolences can be made at www.clementswilcoxburnet.com.