Mary Lou Serratt

Mary Lou Ausmus Serratt died January 27, 2026, at the age of 87. A Celebration of Life will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, January 30, at First Baptist Church of Amarillo, led by Dr. Howie Batson, pastor. There will be a reception in Fellowship Hall after the service. The family will also receive visitors at Schooler Funeral Home on Thursday evening from 5:30 to 6:30.

Mary Lou was born October 20, 1938, to Clifford Buell & Lula Ausmus in Beaumont, Texas. As her dad was in sales/management, they lived in several places. She started school in Pampa, then moved to Amarillo where she graduated from Amarillo High School. They were members of Temple Baptist Church, where her dad was a deacon and her mother was nursery coordinator for many years.

After high school she took some courses at Amarillo College then went to Wayland Baptist College in Plainview where she met her future husband. After Delbert graduated from Wayland he went to Golden Gate Seminary. Courtship by mail and phone took them through the next year. They were married August 9, 1959, at Temple Baptist Church. God blessed them with a son while they lived in Crockett, California, where they served as youth ministers.

After seminary, they returned to Texas to finish her college degree at Wayland, taking Jim along to daycare as she attended classes. She graduated from Wayland in 1964, while they pastored at Spade Baptist Church, where she led a drama group that attracted the whole community. In 1965, their daughter Julie was born. Mary Lou served beside Delbert as he went on to pastor in Dallas, Garden City, Kansas, and several churches in the Amarillo area. Once Delbert stopped pastoring, they were happy to find a church home at First Baptist Church, Amarillo, where Mary Lou found great joy in working with internationals.

Her ministry through the years included directing drama groups, developing puppet ministries, children’s ministry, and teaching Sunday School, GAs, and Acteens. She led conferences at Glorieta and Ridgecrest and trained leadership for national & state WMU. She especially loved training leaders of different language groups. Mary Lou was a skilled writer for national and state Woman’s Missionary Union. She traveled to different states and countries supporting missions.

She had a wonderful life with loving family and friends from around the world. She enjoyed writing and being an encourager. She loved people from all over the world. She cherished her pets and the beauty she found in nature.

She is preceded in death by her father, Cliff Ausmus, her brother, C. B. Ausmus, and her mother Lula Erwin Ausmus.

She is survived by husband, Delbert Serratt, son, Jim & wife Teresa Serratt and their children, David, Sarah and Hillary Serratt, Diana and Jeff Hill and their children, Madi, Mason & Aubree; daughter, Julie and husband Paul Poe and their daughter Brianna; and also her Cambodian family, Rindy & Chyria Nong and their children, Samuel, Maylia, and Serratt. God blessed her with a unique spirit to be like a mother to many people scattered around the world.