Mary Hendricks Masters

Mary Hendricks Masters, 93, finished her sojourn on Earth December 26, 2009. She was the 10th of 12 children born to John Ira Hendricks and Estella Mae (Stepney) Hendricks in Columbia, Mississippi on January 11, 1916. Wanting a different life, she left the family farm at 16 yrs. old and lived with the Dean family in Jackson, Mississippi. She completed her last year of high school on the Alcorn college campus and later received a Bachelor of Science degree in Home Economics at Alcorn college in 1940. Mary and her sister Esther were freshmen together at Alcorn. They were the first in the family to go to college. After college she went to Idabel, Oklahoma where she worked as a Home Demonstration Agent. In her work she aided the Black community in what was needed for their families. In Idabel she met Alfred Masters of Palestine, Texas. They married on December 6, 1949 in Ashdown, Arkansas. Later on they moved to Cleveland, Ohio and had five children. In Cleveland, she became a caseworker for the Welfare Department. In 1965, Mary and her family moved to Las Cruces, New Mexico and joined the Department of Human Services and worked with foster care and adoptions. In Las Cruces, she was involved with the W.I.A.(Women's Improvement Association). She helped make many quilts at the Munson Senior Center. Quilts were raffled to raise money for Habitat for Humanity. She sold so many tickets at the family reunions that often a family member won the quilt. Mary attended every Hendricks Family Reunion from its inception and only death could keep her away. She was a member of the local Volksmarch group, Sun Country Striders. Mary Hendricks Masters was very popular and known throughout the southern New Mexico area due to her work and volunteerism and she was famous for her dinner rolls. Mary attended the Methodist and Baptist churches of her mother and father. Except for a short time at a Baptist church in Vado, NM, she attended her mother-in-law, Lettia Fields Masters, Philathea Seventh Day Adventist church. She became a faithful member in 1967. After her first year in Las Cruces she and her family moved to a farm near Vado, that shared a fence with White Sands Missile Range. She raised her family there for a number of years until her husband's failing health and moved to Anthony, New Mexico. After his death in 1975, she moved back to Las Cruces and finally to Radium Springs. Her final stay was with La Posada, Mesilla Valley Hospice of Las Cruces, where she was lovingly cared for until her passing. Preceding her in death were her brothers: Jesse, Robert(Bob), John Wesley (J.W.), and sisters: an infant girl, Lillie Dukes, Hattie Franklin, Mattie Foxworth, Matilda Taylor, Ella James and Oatha Mae Watts. Leaving behind to remember her are her five children: Mary Ann Masters, Kathryn Louise Masters, and Alfred D. Masters of Las Cruces, New Mexico. Carolyn (Darryl) Faulkner of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Otto Joe (Karen) Masters of Palestine, Texas. Four grandchildren: Deianira Livingston of Dallas, Texas, Erika (Michael) Bordwell of Albuquerque, New Mexico, Mary-K Cheyenne Masters and her older brother Edward Brown of Palestine, Texas and a great granddaughter: Jeneya Livingston-Brassell of Dallas, Texas. She also leaves behind two sisters: Esther Oatis of San Leandro, California and Vera Thompson of Mississippi, one brother-in-law, James Edward Watts of Mississippi and many nieces, nephews and friends. Visitation for Mary will be from 8 to 10 am on Monday, January 4, 2010 at Getz Funeral Home Chapel where the Funeral Service will follow at 10 am. Burial will follow at Ft. Bliss National Cemetery at 2 pm also on Monday. Officiating will be Rev. Lacey White of El Paso, TX. Serving, as honorary pallbearers will be, Robert Molina, Steve Tellez, Reid Chambers, Marty Rivera, Billy Armijo, and Dave Lackey. PDF Printable Version