MARY LOUISE WATKINS HALL
1934-2018
Mary Louise Watkins Hall died on Saturday, the 27th of October, 2018. Mary Lou was affectionately known by many as “Lulu.” She recovered from paralytic polio as a teenager and two bouts with cancer as an adult, but succumbed to the effects of Alzheimer’s disease at the age of 84. She is survived by her husband of 61 years, Charles W. Hall, two of their three children, and six grandchildren:
Daughter Kathryn Louise Hall Wilson, husband Tom, and children Marshall and Merrick;
Brian A. Grove (husband of daughter Allison Ash Hall Grove who died in 2005), their three children, Phillip, Laura, and Emily, Brian’s wife Charlotte, and her child Colin Sunderland; and Son Charles W. Hall III. Lulu was born in Houston on February 23, 1934, to A. L. (“Bo”) Watkins and Helen Louise Bowser Watkins, both of whom predeceased her.
Lulu was a people person, loving, empathetic, sympathetic, enthusiastic, and laughing. She was greatly beloved by others from all walks of life. Two of her favorite prayers capture the essence of her. One was, “Thank you, Lord, for the gift of laughter.” Another, when she was leading a meeting, was, “Help us, Lord, to remember that the success of this meeting does not depend upon hearing the sound of our own voices.”
She first loved her family dearly, but another of her favorite loves was her church, St. John the Divine. She joined as a teenager, and eventually both her father and mother followed her there. She and the founding rector, The Rev. Tom Sumners, had an almost father-daughter relationship. She was one of the first presidents of its youth group. Later she was elected to its vestry. She was president of both the parish and diocesan women of the church. She participated in other parish and diocesan boards and committees. She was the first woman in the parish to serve communion and to be elected a delegate the national church triennial convention. In 2018 when she was in The Hallmark, St. John the Divine honored her for her previous outreach service.
In her diocese she also served on the Diocesan Standing Committee, the Commission on Ministry, the Episcopal Foundation of Texas, and the Division of Overseas Ministry.
She truly believed---and practiced that belief in her daily life.
She also devoted love, time, and treasure to service on the boards of the Christian Community Service Center, Good Neighbor Health Clinic (formerly the Fourth Ward Clinic), St. Vincent’s House (Galveston), Good Shepherd Day Care Center, Compass, and Church Army.
She kept up with her childhood friends, having Houston get-togethers and trips regularly as long as she could to such places as the Texas Hill Country, Idaho, and Colorado.
She loved the Texas Hill Country and her childhood summer camp, Camp Waldemar near Hunt, where later she was a counselor. She was fond of saying, “I would still be working there if I had not married Charles.”
Almost every day she hand wrote and mailed notes of thanks, birthday celebration, condolences, or simply “thinking of you.” She was not interested in receiving gifts of jewelry, clothing, or the like but preferred some new box of monogrammed cards or stationery. She affixed stamps that mirrored the time of year or perhaps the color of the stationery or of the season.
She needlepointed constantly and relentlessly and for many years worked in a friend’s needlepoint shop, The Needle House.
She was exhilarated and happy building a new home or remodeling an old one. She built four and remodeled three (in Houston, Fulshear, and Breckenridge, Colorado).
She did not love cooking, but she loved planning and decorating for parties.
She was graduated from Lamar High School in Houston and the University of Texas in Austin, where she was active in Kappa Kappa Gamma. After graduation she taught English in the Spring Branch School District junior high and senior high schools for three years, and for years after that privately tutored students. She was a member of the Junior League and River Oaks Country Club.
When she became ill, she was wonderfully treated by Drs. Gustavo C. Roman and Robert E. Jackson, and lovingly and patiently cared for daily by Cristina Vega, Elisa Ocanas, Ana Maria Ayala, Laura B. Castallanos, Marta Isabel Villatoro, and Teresa Montenegro and by the staff at The Hallmark.
She will be sorely missed and long remembered.
A memorial service was held at 11:00 am, on Saturday, October 27, 2018, at The Church of St. John the Divine, 2450 River Oaks Boulevard, Houston, Texas 77019, officiated by The Rev. Dr. Clay Lein.
Remembrances, in lieu of flowers, would be welcome to The Church of St. John the Divine and to the Christian Community Service Center, 3230 Mercer Street, Houston, Texas 77027.