Mary Kathryn Forbes

First and foremost, Mary Forbes would like you to know that she spent 93 years living life and loving God and her family with her whole heart. She was born in Marshall, an agricultural Illinois town, on June 26, 1926 to Esther and Ralph Prevo. Her father owned Ralph Prevo Motors and, consequently, she has been a lifelong fan of Chryslers and Massey Ferguson! She was raised with both an older and a younger brother, Ralph and Jim, and had countless stories of growing up with them and the neighborhood gang. She loved to ride her horse, King, who she often tied to the tree in front of their home. Mary attended Marshall High School during the World War II years and many of the boys in her class were far, far away in service to their country. She played first base in softball and also played half-court basketball during which she had to stand in her assigned circle and not get out of it. She would have loved a chance to play modern day basketball! She played a French horn in the Marshall Lions marching band and the Marshall City Band. She also played an accordion at the band stand in the town square on Saturday nights. Her mother worked often at the car dealership and Mary did a lot of the cooking and housework. One night as she was adding coal to the water heater, the unit exploded, and she caught on fire. A neighbor saved her life, but she was forced to spend many months in the hospital and in recuperation. She was very proud that she was able to graduate on time with her classmates from Marshall High. After graduation she went on to work at Hulman and Co. in Terre Haute, Indiana and later became a teller at Delaney National Bank in Marshall. One bright and sunny May afternoon, she saw a man driving down the street and thought to herself “I’m going to marry that man.” The next Sunday she noticed him sitting behind her at Marshall First United Methodist Church. She invited him to her home to play ping pong and, as the legend goes, six weeks later Mary married Hu Forbes, a chemical engineer from Kendallville, Indiana. He never stood a chance! The pair honeymooned on Michigan’s Mackinac Island where only horses and bicycles are allowed for transportation. No cars! On June 27, 2019, Mary and Hu celebrated their 71st wedding anniversary!!! They are the proud parents of a son, Jim, and daughter, Kathryn. They wanted to take their children to all fifty states before they graduated from high school and they were able to accomplish that goal. Even Alaska and Hawaii! They drove a car up the graveled Highway One in Alaska and camped the entire way. Their water would be frozen by morning and they heard about many frightening bear encounters, but they kept going and showed Jim and Kathryn the magnificent Alaskan beauty. Mary had 12 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren. She spent her life taking great care of all of her children and grandchildren. She loved to cook for them; persimmon pudding was among their favorites. She attended their concerts and basketball/baseball games, helped make decorations for school carnivals, and bought them new pajamas every Christmas Eve. One of her granddaughters made the comment, “I am going to miss Grandmom always being in my corner.” She once carved the Bible verse “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord,” out of wood with her jig saw. She was so proud to mount the letters on the wall in her home. But the words were not just for decoration. She lived those words and taught all of the children what it meant to serve the Lord. She made sure that Jim and Kathryn got their perfect attendance pins for Sunday School. She was a first grade Sunday School teacher, taught the youth group, ran spaghetti dinners, wrote and made sets for youth group plays, raked leaves with the youth every fall, planned and hosted garage sales, served Meals on Wheels, and for many years wrote and published a church newsletter. Hu worked for Marathon Oil Company and got transferred every few years. No matter where they went, Mary would always take the verse she had cut on that old jigsaw. The first tradition in a new house was to hang those letters. She did so from Robinson, Illinois to Madrid, Spain to London, England, to San Rafael, California and to Seabrook, Texas. She loved every place she lived and has friends all across the country. Mary also loved to paint, build and repair anything with her extensive set of tools, and watch baseball games, especially the Houston Astros. She had grandchildren attending both Texas Tech and the University of Oklahoma and divided her football allegiances accordingly! She also enjoyed and spent several years as a feature writer for the Clear Lake News Citizen. Because she was always looking for exciting news stories and leading the way in everything she did, her grandchildren sometimes called her “Scout.” Hu still has the Cradle Roll from the Methodist church in Marshall that shows Mary first went to Sunday School when she was one month old! She was a continuous member of a Methodist church somewhere for 93 years!!! In Lubbock, she was a proud member of St. Matthew United Methodist Church. She is survived by her husband, Hu, of Lubbock, her son Jim and his wife Jane of Lubbock, and her daughter Kathryn and her husband Dewey Selmon of Norman, Oklahoma along with her 12 grandchildren: James, Joanna, Jonathan, Joy, Joshua, Joseph, Shannon, Megan, Lauren, Zachary, Christiana, and Gabrielle. She was very proud to have 14 great-grandchildren: Charis, Lydiann, Mercy, Jimmy, Olivia, Kai, Knox, Ava, Grant, Layne, Hannah, Seven, Shayne, and Rylee. We will never forget her smile, her jokes, her laughter, her determination, and most of all, her desire for us to serve the Lord.

Mary Kathryn Forbes

June 26, 1926 - July 2, 2019