Mary Alice (Schofield) Black

Mary Alice Black was born to parents Ezra Ellis Schofield and Mayline Robinson Schofield on December 11, 1936, in Eagle Pass, TX. At the age of 4, the family moved to Brownsville, TX where she lived until her marriage to Richard Black of Austin, TX. Richard (Dick) was born in Harlingen, TX on November 30, 1935.

Mary Alice & Dick first met on a blind date set up by a mutual friend while attending The University of Texas in Austin. The friend had known Mary Alice from Brownsville and knew Dick from Austin. There was an instant deep feeling by both. Not long after that first meeting, Dick, a member of a UT Fraternity, “Pinned” Mary Alice and she told him, “You know this means were engaged to be engaged, don’t you?” Point made and wholeheartedly accepted!

Mary Alice & Dick continued together for the next 2-1/2 years until his graduation. The only reason for the delay in marriage was that Dick was in the Navy ROTC during undergraduate at UT in Austin and one obligation as a NROTC member was that he could not get married until after graduation when he would be commissioned as a Naval Officer. This graduation happened on June 1st, 1957. Obviously, Dick and Mary Alice’s new priority was to get married as soon as possible since they were to report to Long Beach, California 20 days after his commissioning. So, on June 4th, 1957, they were married in Mary Alice’s hometown of Brownsville, TX. Two days later, in a 2 door Plymouth packed to the gills with all the useful household goods they could fit, they struck out on a journey that would prove to be a wonderful marriage that lasted for 67 years.

After 2 years of active duty, they returned to Austin where Dick entered UT Law School, and Mary Alice went to work full time at an annual oil & gas publication that kept track of data on wells initiated in TX each year. After Graduation in 1962, Dick went to work in the Law department of Humble Oil & Refining Company (now Exxon/Mobil) in Houston, TX whom he worked for until retiring, after nearly 35 years, as Chief Attorney. Shortly thereafter their first born, Christopher Lee, was born in February of 1963, their second, Stephen Ellis, followed in 1967, with Alan Cooper being third in 1975.

Dick & Mary Alice moved a few times with the company, first to Los Angeles in 1968, followed by going to Baton Rouge in 1973 before finally coming home to Houston in 1978 until his retirement in 1996. During Dick’s last years before retiring, they transitioned to living in Galveston for many years before ending up in League City, where Dick continues to live after Mary Alice’s recent passing.

After his retirement they wanted to see more of the world and travelled taking cruises to the South Pacific (Australia, New Zealand, Fiji Islands) and several trips to Europe (England, France, Germany, & Austria) the Middle East, and North Africa.

Mary Alice was a strong-willed person, as Dick puts it, she was a “Do-er” while I was the “Thinker”. And Do-er she was, If she didn’t know how to do something, she would buy a “how to” book on that thing or just wing it and figure it out on her own. As such, Dick never had a “Honey do” list on weekends, if a sink was stopped up or a switch was broken or a ceiling fan wasn’t working (or needed installing) she just did it instead of calling someone for such simple problems. One Example; One time, while living in CA, Dick came home from work and walked inside to hear this voice calling out “come here” after following the voice into the kitchen, he found Mary Alice coiled up under the kitchen sink. Dick went over and she said “Take hold of this pipe wrench and pull” it moved about 4 inches and she uncoiled herself from under the sink, it was finished. She had bought all the new parts and replaced the leaky ones with new ones and just needed that last bit of help.

Besides her family, Mary Alice was very active in any Church she and Dick belonged to throughout all their moves. She was always involved and willing to pitch in and get things done, no matter whether it was doing gardening, painting a shutter or fixing a flush valve on a toilet. During her 10 year long tenure on the Building & Grounds Committee at her final Church, The First Presbyterian Church of Galveston, TX, (many of which she served as Chair) she was well known to spend many hours personally repairing many different items, like that previously mentioned troublesome valve on the men’s room urinal, foregoing the usual “unnecessary” calling of local contractors and the delay and cost involved.

Also dear to her heart was her beloved Houston Junior Forum, both in her many years as an Active and as a Sustaining Member. She worked on many projects that the Junior Forum was involved in, especially their Resale Shop in the Heights area, all for the benefit of underprivileged communities in Houston.

Mary Alice & Dick had a love-filled marriage, one that, towards the end, they acknowledged to each other “we not only still love each other, we actually still LIKE each other”.

Truer words were never spoken

Mary Alice Black is survived by her loving husband of 67 years, her 3 sons and their wives, Chris and Cheryl Black of Denver, CO, Steve and Sarah Black, of Aurora, CO, Alan and Anna Black of Naples FL, and 2 grandchildren, Samuel Gruenwald of Munich, Germany and Amelia Black of Naples FL.

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