Name: Memorial service for Mary Boone
Start: 2017-05-07T20:00:00.000Z
Location: Weed Corley Fish Funeral Homes and Cremation Services - North

Mary Cunningham Boone
1922-2017

Mary Cunningham Boone, "GrandMary," died on April 28, 2017 in Austin, Texas at age 94. She was born in San Antonio, Texas, to May "Dear" Price and Frank Cunningham. She was the next-to-youngest of five children. After graduating from Thomas Jefferson High School, Mary met her husband, Arthur, while both were attending Baylor University. They were married in 1944 while he was on leave from the Navy during World War II. Following the war, they moved to Austin, Texas where Arthur founded Frostex Foods and Mary taught elementary school. With the births of their three children Bill, Jim, and Carol, Mary devoted herself to full-time motherhood, community service, and continued support of Arthur in his business and philanthropic endeavors.
Mary's gift of hospitality touched countless lives, whether cooking for someone in need, hosting friends on their private "Boonesborough" railcar, or planning events to celebrate loved ones' accomplishments. She loved her Westwood Tennis League, her bridge group, and her Sunday School classes (both as a teacher and a "student"). Mary was an avid bridge and tennis player, known for her competitiveness and skill. Even late in life, Mary could play a mean game of ping pong! She was a devoted follower of Jesus Christ from an early age, and lived a steadfast faith throughout her life. She and Arthur were active, "front row" members of Hyde Park Baptist Church for over 40 years. In 1982 they donated the beautiful steeple and bell tower, inscribed in honor of their parents, to the new sanctuary building.
Mary's generosity and devotion to her family and her community were inspiring. In addition to service at Hyde Park, she volunteered for many years in leadership capacities at The Junior Helping Hand Home for Children and The Settlement Home for Children. Mary loved being a grandmother and became widely known as "GrandMary". She hid silver coins inside of homemade birthday scotch cakes, dressed up on Halloween, hosted countless swimming parties, and arrived at the first sign of illness with chicken and rice and banana pudding in hand. She wrote weekly letters to her grandchildren away at college, and made trips to visit them. She loved deeply, and this will be her greatest legacy.
Mary loved a little mischief. There is family lore about her as a pre-teen, running and hiding in the car when her older sister was picked up for a date. She loved practical jokes throughout her life and had an enviable sense of humor. She loved the color red and she loved roses. There was always a red car in their Rockmoor garage, and she took great pride in tending her beautiful rose garden on the corner.
Mary's joyful disposition, contagious laugh, and beautiful smile never wavered even as her health declined in recent years. She was preceded in death by her loving husband Arthur Upshaw Boone II, her beloved daughter Mary Carol Boone, and her siblings Frank Price Cunningham, James William Cunningham, and Sara May Cunningham Coleman. She is survived by her brother, Sam Cunningham and his wife Nell of Havana, Florida; her children William Price Boone and his wife Ann Knoebber of Austin; James Arthur Boone and his wife Susan Hobbs of Houston; grandchildren Mary Nell Boone Suell of Houston; Jennifer Susan Boone Sappington and her husband Brad of Austin; Arthur "Trey" Upshaw Boone III and Tyler McIntosh Boone of Houston; and great-grandchildren Doug, William Steen and Sarah Jane Boone Suell of Houston; and Grace Margaret Sappington of Austin as well as other extended family members.
Our family would like to extend heartfelt gratitude to Bruce Duncan, Georgia Tucker, the employees of The Plaza at Querencia, and especially to Nimfa Robes-Delacruz for their loving care of Mary in her declining years.
A memorial service celebrating Mary's life will be held on Sunday, May 7th at 3:00 pm at Weed-Corley-Fish Funeral Home, 3125 North Lamar, in Austin, Texas. A private burial at Austin Memorial Park will follow. Memorial contributions may be made to Hyde Park Baptist Church, 3901 Speedway, Austin, Texas 78751; The Helping Hand Home, 3804 Avenue B, Austin, Texas 78751; or The Settlement Home for Children, 1600 Payton Gin Rd., Austin, Texas 78758.
Obituary and memorial guestbook available online at www.wcfish.com – Arrangements by Weed-Corley-Fish Funeral Home, Austin, TX – (512) 452-8811

To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.

Published by Houston Chronicle from May 2 to May 3, 2017.

Memories and Condolences
for Mary Boone

Sponsored by Weed Corley Fish Funeral Homes and Cremation Services - North.

17 Entries

Charles C. Cox, III

September 21, 2025

Mary, Arthur, and Carol still make me smile when I think of them. It was on a wonderful trip to East Africa where I met them, and once back in the U.S.A. we continued our friendship, though with time passing, our communications became less frequent. But as I quoted in my previous messages, my favorite line from Mary was the one she made while we were in Kenya, I think at the Mount Kenya Safari Club: "I never stole anything I didn't first try to buy." It put me in stitches when she first uttered those lines, and it has kept me laughing every time I think about it. They were wonderful and added that bit of Texas humor every time they entered a room!!! Still missing them today !!!

Charles C. Cox, III

April 22, 2025

In my dining room on a shelf is a tiny photo of Arthur and me in Durban, South Africa, knoshing ice cream cones. Nearby is our hotel where Mary and Carol decided to stay rather than going out for a jaunt. When I see that little photo, I well remember all three of them. The most marvelous traveling couple one could ever hope for. Their memory never fades from me. I was truly lucky to have been combined with them on what may have been the last tourist group from the U.S. A. to S.A. before the ban on
American tours to S.A. over apartheid was put into place by the U.S. government. I was very fortunate!!

Charles Cox, III

April 22, 2024

One of the very best traveling companions I ever enjoyed- East Africa in 1986, with Mary, Arthur, and Carol.
Loved every minute I was in their company! And once again, my favorite line she expressed so affectionately
"I never stole anything I didn't first try to buy." We were in the gift shop at Mount Kenya Safari Club looking at all the trinkets and do-dahs.

I have a small photograph in my dining room of Arthur and me eating ice cream cones. It was taken in Durban, South Africa. At the time I was in the ice cream business in Providence, R.I. and I used to jest that it was ice cream that made it possible for me to afford to take a month long trek to South and East Africa. I could not have had better traveling companions to be my traveling companions. They have never been forgotten!!

Charles C. Cox, III, Lincoln, R.I.

April 22, 2022

It has been many years since I traveled in East Africa with Mary, Arthur, and Carol. But I have never forgotten them. They were the most congenial traveling companions anyone could imagine. Then on our return, they brought the Boonesboro train car through New England, pick me and my friend, Bob Petteruti up, and off we went to New York City. As part of our response to their generosity, we took the Boones to the Russian Tea Room for dinner. That was the last time I ever saw them- in the latter-1980's. But we kept in touch, usually by phone, sometimes by written notes. And I never cease smiling when I think of all the little quips Mary used to say to make us all laugh!
My favorite: "I never stole anything that I didn't first try to buy". Who could ever imagine Mary stealing anything, but the rejoinder was the killer: ".....that I didn't first try to buy"!!! Always loved that one-liner!!

She is alive in my mind and the three of them always make me smile when I think of them. To boot, sitting on one of my kitchen shelves is a packet of very hot chili sauce that I was supposed to make something with- but Texas hot, not some weepy hot sauce. i never opened it and have always kept it on the shelf to remember them by. I know that if i ever make something out of it, it will set my mouth on fire, and the mouths of everyone else I serve it to. Making me remember and smile is sufficient for me!!

Thanks for the opportunity to remember them all, and to write something to recall them by. They were truly wonderful people!!!

CCCox

Charles Cox, III

April 22, 2021

It has been almost four years exactly since Mary's passing. And after all these years since we spent time together in East Africa (1986), I never think of her, Arthur, or Carol that I don't break out into a wide grin!! They were the best traveling companions one could ever have.

And all these years later, I regale my students with Mary's response to me, when she and her family took their train car up to Boston on a cross country journey, after we had returned from our African adventure. I said to her "Mary, aren't you afraid of staying in that lonely and dark train yard over night?" Her response was classic Mary: "Oh no honey, I always travel with my pearl- handled revolver. We'll be safe".
It can't get any better than that!! And after all these many years, I still miss hearing her voice and seeing them. But they are frequently in my mind, and I am grateful we got to spend those three weeks together.

On the chair railing in my dining room, I have a small photo of Arthur and me eating ice cream in Durban, South Africa, at a Carvel's. At that time my partner and I were in the ice cream business, so it was part of a much larger story in our lives. And a great photo. Probably taken by Carol- who else could work such magic with her camera!!

So many memories, so little time together, so lasting in my thoughts, and so grateful they were part of this experience!!

Charles Cox, III

April 22, 2020

It is Mary's humor I always remember. She once told me- in Kenya I think- "I never stole anything I didn't first try to buy"! We were discussing how nice the soap dishes, towels, and other paraphernalia we had in our rooms at the Mount Kenya Safari Club. It was simply one of those quips she would come up with from time to time that would make you roar with laughter. Think about it: a Baptist girl stealing a towel!! I don't think so!!! And I got to entertain the whole family at a marvelous piano, located in the lobby of our hotel in Durban, South Africa. It was the only thing I could do- to play popular songs- to repay their kindnesses through our three week trip to East and South Africa. There was never a better tribe to travel with and I think of the three of them to this day. In fact, in my dining room, I have a framed snapshot of Arthur and me enjoying an ice cream cone outside a Carvel Ice Cream store in Durban, South Africa. I know that the three of them are looking down on all of us and smiling as we wind our way through this thing called life. I always feel much affection for the three of them when they come into my mind!!

Charles Cox, III

April 22, 2019

On my first trip to Africa, I would have never asked for more congenial travel mates than Mary, Arthur, and Carol. But the funniest line I heard on that three week trip has always stayed with me, and makes me chuckle everytime it goes through my mind or crosses my lips: "I never stole anything I first didn't offer to buy"! I think we were talking about monogramed hotel towels at the Mt. Kenya Safari Club, where I was trying to exercise some undue influence on Mary since she said how much she loved those thick, fluffy towels. To my suggestion that she simply lift one into her luggage, she came back with the wonderful one-liner. We shared so many wonderful moments together, and even when I went back to Kenya and South Africa two years later for a longer trek, it is that first time with the Boones that stands out in my mind the most. In our dining room here in Lincoln, we have a small snap shot of Arthur and me outside of a Carvel ice cream store in Durban, South Africa, enjoying a cone of ice cream At the time, we were in the ice cream business here in Rhode Island and were fortunate to have hit a "gold mine" with ice cream, this during the mid-'80's. Later when we got back home, the Boones decided to take a cross country trip on their train. They stopped in Boston, then came to Providence where they picked up me and my friend, Bob Petteruti. We rode to New York City where we took them to dinner at the Russian Tea Room, the very least we could do for this wonderful trip in their personal rail car. Arthur gave me a cap with the logo of his train on it; I still have it!

Wonderful people who gave me such wonderful memories over such a short period of time. But memories that have not faded one bit. Especially when I see "thick, fluffy monogramed hotel towels!!!"

August 28, 2017

I well remember Mary, Arthur, and Carol from our trip to East Africa over 30 years ago. I would give her a phone call every few years to see how she was doing. With this terrible hurricane that has devastated so much of Texas, she came to mind the very first repot of the storm, as soon as I got back from Florida to Rhode Island last night. Only now have I learned of her passing.

I have a number of photos Carol sent me- she called them her "seconds"- and they are all beautiful! And a small photo of Authur and me having ice cream at an ice cream parlor in Durban, South Africa. At the time I was making ice cream as one of the small, but very popular homemade ice cream parlors in the U.S. at the time.

And We got to ride in the railcar from Boston to N.Y.City, where we took Arthur and Mary to the Russian Tea Room, our way of expressing appreciation for the "train ride". A wonderful excursion.

Wonderful family which added so much to some of the happiest memories of my life!!

Charles C. Cox, III, [email protected]

Nimfa Delacruz

May 7, 2017

Having taken cared of Ms Mary for more than two years in my own home is such a blessing. It wasn't difficult to provide a quality of care to a pleasant woman who became very dear to me and my whole family. There was no dull moments taking care of her, she was so appreciative with good sense of humor ... The last few months of her life seemed forever but one thing is for sure, she passed away feeling dignified. We are so thankful to Boone family for trusting me and my staff. We will surely miss her and her laughter.
- Nimfa Robes-Delacruz, BSN, RN, ALM Cert
A New Haven for Elders in Austin
512-586-1449

Margaret Rochs

May 4, 2017

I have so many fond memories of Mary and the Bridge Club. I felt like they were all my surrogate Mothers. And Mary and Arthur were always there for us after the deaths of Daddy and then Mother. Mary was a bright light and will be missed. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your families. Fondly, Margaret Rochs

Sue Rukavina

May 4, 2017

Mary was a wonderful person and so much fun to be with!! She will be missed. Please know that you are in my thoughts and prayers! love you all-- Sue Rukavina, Liberty, S.C.

Nick & Alma Moore

May 2, 2017

Mary Boone was a kind, thoughtful person with a rich sense of humor. Alma and I enjoyed the time we had in her presence and we will miss her.

May 2, 2017

Mary had lived a full life with many fond memories may all those memories continue to comfort the many lives she had touched.my sincere sympathy.

Lorrie Herrera-Hernandez

May 2, 2017

My mother Neva was Mary Boones hairdresser for many years and I remember meeting her as a small child and would always tell her she looked like a queen, she was a beautiful woman inside and out. May you rest peacefully Queen Mary❤

J L

May 2, 2017

My sympathy to your family. may the God of all comfort help you to endure during this time of grief. PSALMS 94:19.

Joan Orth

May 2, 2017

The beauty of her legacy is reflected in all of you! Love you Boone family! Sending thoughts and prayers

Ross Smith

May 2, 2017

Mary and Arthur Boone were good friends and neighbors to all who lived out on Rockmoor. I will always be grateful for the love and kindness they gave to my family, the Hiblers - HT, Peggy & Diane.

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