MARY WYLIE MCGEE  

The following bio was taken from page 293 of the book entitled “Rusk County History” compiled and edited and used with permission of the Rusk County Historical Commission. 

Transcribed by Shirley Koym 

Submitted by Gloria Briley Mayfield, Cemeteries of Texas 

Mary Wylie was born July 22, 1937 in Henderson.  She was the seventh child and only daughter of William E. and Monnie Meyer Wylie.  Mary currently lives in San Antonio, Texas, with her husband Malcolm Glynn McGee, and two daughters:  Monnie, born October 20, 1968, in San Antonio; and Melinda, born April 4, 1971 in Irving, Texas.

Mary attended Mrs. Wright’s kindergarten, Central Elementary, and Henderson Junior and Senior High schools.  She graduated from high school with the Class of 1955, the first class to have completed all three years in the “new” high school, now the Henderson Middle School.  Mary graduated from Baylor University in 1959, with a Bachelor of Arts, with majors in history and education.  She also attended Rice Institute and Stephen F. Austin State College.  In 1963, she completed a Master of Science in Library Science from Louisiana State University.  Mary has taught in junior high school and has worked in medical and university libraries.

On June 25, 1966, Mary married Malcolm Glynn McGee in Houston, Texas.  He was born in Red Top, Young County, Texas, July 17, 1935, the son of Orus Lane and Lena Petty McGee.  Glynn graduated from Texas Tech in 1957, with a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture, with a major in Dairy Industry.  The McGees have lived in San Antonio, Irving, Shreveport, and returned to San Antonio in 1978.

Growing up in Henderson during the late thirties, the forties, and early fifties meant recognizing almost everyone a person saw and walking or bicycling to many places, such as the dime stores, the independently –owned grocer and department stores, the drug stores with their fountain services, and the picture shows.  Sadly, it was World War II and the Korean War which meant seeing brothers, cousins, friends, and acquaintances go off to war, radio news bulletins and newspaper stories of successes and losses, books of ration stamps and badly worn cars and tires for World War II, and finally the wonderful announcements that the war was over.  Radio programs were important entertainment before and even after television arrived in town.  The radio offered comedy, such as Jack Benny and George Burns and Gracie Allen, later Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis; detective stories, such as the Big Story; and drama, such as Lux Theater.  The two movie theaters in town, the Strand and the Palace, were other sources of entertainment and places to meet friends.  After a person learned to drive and received a license or had a friend with a license, the places to meet were the drive-ins and restaurants, such as Sammy’s or the Root Beer stand.

The influence of the churches was felt strongly.  Regular church members attended Sunday morning and night and Wednesday evening services.

Submitted by Arch C. Wylie