JAMESENE WALLACE
03/16/1929 - 01/06/2023
Beloved mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother Jamesene Temple Wallace “Jamie” died on Friday, January 6, 2023.
Jamie was born in Fort Worth, Texas on March 16, 1929 to Grace Temple and her namesake, James Temple. Shortly afterwards the family moved to Oklahoma City where her lifelong best friend, beloved brother Bobby was born. She and her brother spent their childhood there in a small wood frame house rented by her parents. Their mother had them take tap dancing and piano lessons. Piano started Jamie’s lifelong love of music. It was in the middle of the Great Depression but her father had a job working for General Foods and they were lucky enough to be better off than many others.
Eventually they moved back to Dallas where her sister Anne was born. After graduating from North Dallas High School, Jamie’s father wanted her to go to secretarial school. She refused, convincing her parents to let her go to what was then Texas State School for Women (TWU) in Denton where she worked in the dining hall to cover the expenses her scholarships did not. She was the first in her family to go to college and graduated with a BFA. After graduation she worked in the clothing design department in Titche’s department store in downtown Dallas. On her own she joined Ross Avenue Baptist Church and there she met her beloved husband, “sweet” William. They married on September 14, 1951 and after only six months Jamie left the job she loved to relocate with the man she loved more. Jamie continued her appreciation for fashion her entire life as a skilled seamstress sewing her own clothing.
Bill was hired by Brown ‘N Root and the couple moved to Houston to start their lives together. As a member of the last generation of women before birth control, Jamie had four children in eight years. In the early years her young family moved thirteen times throughout the eastern United States but always returned to Houston, the city she loudly and proudly called home. She was a devout Christian in the truest sense of the word and attended church with her family at least twice a week, singing in the choir and teaching Sunday school to young children all her adult life. She eventually joined South Main Baptist Church where she remained until her death. It was at South Main that Jamie reclaimed the crafts that she put on pause years before to become a mother and wife. She worked as the church’s printing press operator and graphic artist for many years during the time before computers when everything in the shop was done by hand.
After retiring, she continued her passion for art and culture as a dedicated volunteer docent, leading tours at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. In preparation for each new show she would spend many hours studying. During those years Jamie built an extensive art history library in her home and gained a wealth of information that she would happily discuss until her last days. Jamie would say that her favorite tours she gave were with the children from surrounding HISD schools. She continued her role at the museum until reluctantly retiring when she could no longer stand for the many hours that the tours often took.
Jamie was a strong woman who imparted a sense of being your own person to her children. As a woman of the 1960’s and as one who worked to balance her love for her family with her desire to be her own person, Jamie was especially proud of the accomplishments of her daughters and granddaughters.
Jamesene was preceded in death by her sister Anne Temple, her son Brian James Wallace, her daughter Karen Jean Wallace, her parents Grace Temple and James C. Temple, her beloved husband William H. (Bill) Wallace, her daughter-in-law Melinda Faye Wallace, and her brother Dr. Bobby Temple.
She leaves behind son Buckner W. Wallace, daughter Susan Elaine Wallace, son-in- law Lemon Green, granddaughters Julie Anne Wallace and Isabel WallaceGreen, Julie’s husband Thomas Brian Gilbert, great grandson Jacob B. WallaceEllis, and great granddaughters Jolie Wallace-Ellis and Jackie Wallace-Ellis and their father, Jeremy F. Ellis.
A visitation will be held on Tuesday, January 24 from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. in the chapel at Earthman Southwest Funeral Home, 12555 South Kirkwood Road.
A interment will be held on Wednesday, January 25 at 1:00 p.m. at Memorial Oaks Cemetery, 13001 Katy Fwy. in Houston.
A celebration of life will be held on Thursday, January 26 at 2:00 p.m. at South Main Baptist Church, 4100 Main Street in Houston.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to South Main Baptist Church or The Museum of Fine Arts.