The Munsons of Texas — an American Saga
Inset 17
IN MEMORIAM
A Tribute to the Memory of Mary Munson Williamson
. . .Byron Williamson was a pleasant mannered man of excellent character and an energetic & resourceful nature. Three sons. . .were born to their union, and some happy years were spent on the ranch [Rancho Isabella near Angleton] raising White Face cattle and White Legion chickens and hogs. But Byron's health began to fail and the Doctor ordered a dry climate for him, so in the fall of 1928 the family. . .moved to El Paso and. . .bought a small farm home near Canutillo, some 12 miles from El Paso and at the base of the majestic Franklin Mountains.
Mary Munson Williamson ca 1920
Here on this 40 acre tract, with its mesquite trees and large and comfortable adobe house, began a fight by a woman who is typical of all that is finest and best in the true American wives and mother's who have helped to build America; a fight to save her husband's life from tuberculosis, and at the same time to earn a living for the family of five, and to keep alive a cheerful and happy atmosphere. . .
Chicken houses and runs were built and the place stocked with White Leghorn chickens. Byron was unable to do any but the lightest work, and less each year. But the boys helped and Mary worked and at times had some Mexican help, and in a short time built up a select egg trade with choice firms and hotels in El Paso. Each egg was individually candled and guaranteed, and in the fall of 1940 when my wife and I visited her, Mary told us that she had not missed a scheduled delivery of eggs for 13 years. This hard work and high standard of product and service had succeeded in winning for the family a very comfortable living for these 13 years.
Byron had died shortly before we were out there. For all of these thirteen years, Mary had waged her fight, and had not only won a living for the family. . .but had also managed. . .to keep the home atmosphere bright and cheery and happy; and had given the three sons excellent educational advantages. . .
This summer Mary was delighted to hear of the engagement of her son, Byron Jr. . .and went to New York to visit her sons and to attend the wedding, which went off happily on August 13th [actually August 12] (1944). After the long years of close confinement to her duties at home, it is probable that this trip was one of the happiest events of her life. . .Arriving in El Paso on an earlier train than expected, there was no one to meet her, and she got out and started walking down the trainshed to the station, and without warning crumpled and fell, a victim of heart failure.
And so ends a beautiful life. In a way she had completed her life work; her three sons all grown and well educated and imbued with her bright, cheerful, and practical nature. Of course it is hard for them to tell her goodbye so soon, but who can say that old age with its ailments would have added anything to her cup of joy, which was full to overflowing at the time of her death.
To me, Mary Munson Williamson was, in the finest sense of the word, a truly great woman.
Frank K. Stevens
