Mary Ione Bigby Reed

Mary Ione Bigby Reed, 99, passed away Monday, Oct. 1, 2012, in Albuquerque, NM.

She was born on Feb. 22, 1913, at her family home southeast of Ballinger. She was the youngest daughter of John Wesley Bigby and Sarah Elizabeth “Sadie” Douglass Bigby, who was a step-daughter of Runnels County pioneer Nathaniel T. Guest.

Mary Ione is survived by her daughter, Linda Marlene Reed Lockett, and son-in-law, Dale Lockett of New Mexico; her granddaughter Courtney Lockett and husband Thomas Windt-Jensen of Denmark; her granddaughter Megan Lockett Mullaly and husband Brian Mullaly of California; and great-grandchildren Owen Reed Mullaly, Gavin Patrick Mullaly, Laura Ione Windt-Lockett and David Wyatt Windt-Lockett.
Mary Ione is also survived by her younger brother Oran and his wife Mildred Bigby of Ballinger, as well as a number of dear nieces and nephews.

In November 1983, Mary Ione was preceded in death by her husband, Orbia A. Reed, a World War II veteran from Paint Rock.
Mary Ione was also preceded in death by her brothers Walter and Johnnie Bigby and her sisters Thelma Bigby Stephens, Nellie Bigby Hays and Mabel Bigby Worsham.

Mary Ione was born into a Runnels County pioneer family who put great stock in hard work, higher education, church, good manners and citizenship.

She grew up chopping cotton with her brothers and sisters, killing a rattlesnake or two when she was home by herself and helping with the many chores on her parents’ farm and ranch. Mary Ione enjoyed learning to play the piano and using one of Runnels County’s first telephones that her father brought home from Fort Worth.
After graduating from Ballinger High School in 1930, she followed her mother’s and older sisters’ examples of being industrious Texas women and taught multiple elementary grades in the Bethel area.


During the Depression, Mary Ione taught and worked on her college education during the summers until she was able financially to attend Sul Ross College fulltime, along with her sister Mabel, and earn her bachelor’s degree in 1939. She later earned both a master’s degree and counseling certification from Texas Western College in El Paso.

On Dec. 22, 1941 at her family home, she married Orbia Reed, who was born and raised in Paint Rock and stationed with the U.S. Army at Fort Bliss in El Paso. In the fall of 1942, Orbia was shipped overseas to Africa and then to Europe. They would not see or talk with each other again until World War II was over, and he was allowed to come back to the United States in September 1945.

During the war, Mary Ione taught typing and shorthand at El Paso High School. Later, she taught in El Paso at Austin High School and then at Burges High School when it first opened. She later became a counselor at Burges.

In El Paso, Mary Ione and her husband Orbia, who worked for El Paso Natural Gas Company (EPNG), enjoyed playing bridge and 42, taking summer driving vacations throughout the West and supporting their daughter Linda with her activities.

Mary Ione’s granddaughters were the joys of her life, and she used her sewing and crafting skills to make them great Halloween costumes. After she retired from El Paso Public Schools in 1971, she enjoyed painting and won a number of art awards in El Paso and then San Angelo. Mary Ione also painted beautiful china pieces, just as her mother had done. She was active in art associations in El Paso and San Angelo.
An avid gardener, Mary Ione enjoyed discussing her grandchildren, sports and politics with her daughter, as well as collecting antiques and pretty things. She never traveled to Paris, which was a dream of hers, but she loved seeing England with her niece, Catherine Hays Jorgenson, of Ballinger.
Mary Ione also enjoyed visiting with her neighbors and other friends in San Angelo and was active with the Mary Martha Sunday School class at Sierra Vista United Methodist Church in San Angelo. She was a member of First United Methodist Church in Ballinger and, along with her sisters and mother, the Eastern Star.
Her active, independent lifestyle in San Angelo ended as she suffered life-changing injuries when struck down by a vehicle as she was walking in her neighborhood one morning in September 2002. She lived to meet four great-grandchildren and persevered bravely during her final 10 tough years of life.

The family requests memorials be directed to the Sierra Vista United Methodist Church of San Angelo or First United Methodist Church of Ballinger.

Viewing will be at Lange Funeral Home in Ballinger at 5-7 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 7. A celebration of her life will take place at 10 a.m. on Monday, Oct. 8 at Evergreen Cemetery in Ballinger.