Altha Mae Sears

A celebration of her life will be held at Laurel Land Chapel of Chimes on Wednesday, July 10, 2019 at 12:30 pm. Interment will follow immediately at Laurel Land Memorial Park.

Altha Mae Sears was born on November 28, 191 9 in Hominy, Oklahoma. She was the 4th child of Albert and Susan Hester, having 3 older brothers. After Susan passed away, Albert would remarry and they would have 4 more sons and two daughters making a family of 7 boys and 3 girls. Mae grew up on a farm with dad working several different jobs, including working in the oil fields, and mom staying home and taking care of the kids and the home. Mae would do her schooling in Hominy but would eventually end her schooling after the 7th grade. As the oldest girl in the home, taking care of the rest of her siblings became part of her responsibilities. When Mae was 18, she was offered an opportunity to move to Pawhuska, Oklahoma with the Wheeler family, who were good friends of her family. They were moving there and wanted Mae to go with them to help take care of their home and their children. During that time, Mae continued going to church at the Christian Church in Pawhuska. There she would meet a young man by the name of Louis Sears who was in her Sunday School class at the 1st Christian Church in Pawhuska. They decided to get married on a Sunday in September in 1941; Mae not quite 21 and Louis 3 months younger than her. They got married at 8:00 am drove to Tulsa for their honeymoon dinner because Louis had to be back at work after that.

Louis would work in the oil field industry until his retirement. He began his career with Frank Manufacturing Company, which then became the Cabot Corporation, which changed names one more time becoming Ingersoll Rand which is the company he retired from after more than 40 years of service in the United States and abroad. Mae would be a stay-at-home mother, which is what they both wanted. Louis had told her that he did not want her to work because his mom had worked all of her life. That was fine with Mae and she replied that she only wanted two children; one boy and one girl, because it seemed like she had been raising children all of her life. Louis’ work would take them to Tulsa, where their one boy, Mike, was born on June 14, 1945. In 1948 they would move to California for two years, then back to Tulsa in 1950 where Joy was born on January 27, 1952, and then back to California in 1952 as Louis’ job responsibilities would change. In 1954, Louis and Mae moved their family to Odessa, Texas to be in the middle of oil field country. (Or in Mike’s words, dragged the kids to the middle of nowhere taking them from the beach and sunny days of California). It was during their time in Odessa where Mae learned to drive. She was taught by her grandmother in 1955 at the age of 36. Odessa is where Mike and Joy would do their schooling, growing up in the heyday of Friday Night Lights! (Mike adds that he did not need to see the movie, as he lived the movie)! Joy would marry Kirk Kirksey in Odessa August 5, 1972 and then they would move to Arlington because of a new job opportunity for Kirk. After attending college in Odessa for a while, Mike would serve in Vietnam in the United States Navy from 1966-1968 and then four more years in the Naval Reserve. After returning, he would then attend TCU in Fort Worth.

Louis and Mae would then move to Houston as Louis continued his career in the oil field industry and would live there until he retired in 1985. After retirement, they moved to Fort Worth so they could be close to family. They would move into a house on Winifred Street and that would be the only house they lived in during the rest of their lives. Louis would pass away in 2003 after 62 years of marriage. Mae would continue to live there until her health began to decline and she moved to Avalon Memory Care.

During his career, Mae would do exactly what they wanted her to do, stay home taking care of the home and their children. Mae would comment later how blessed she was to have two things that she had always wanted growing up; a wonderful husband and her two wonderful children; one boy and one girl.

Mae had an incredible love for learning and even though she had attended school only through the 7th grade, she probably could have won any spelling bee as her vocabulary was incredible and she had such beautiful handwriting. She also became somewhat of a world traveler. Family vacations were always important when the children were growing up. Mae was satisfied being a homebody, but Louis tried to convince her to travel with him or to join him as he had the privilege of traveling to so many wonderful places. You might have to take her hollering and screaming, but once she knew she was going, she could have the time of her life. It began with a trip to Germany in 1974, then more trips to Europe, trips to Canada and Mexico, a trip to Saudi Arabia where she got to see her first grandchild, and a 30 day stay in Israel.

Mike and Joy summed it up this way, “She was the best mother a person could ever ask for. She took great care of our family and was supportive of everything that Joy and I did. She loved being a mother and that brought her great joy! She was not really social but that was okay because she loved being at home and would say that you really don’t need anything other than family. And that included her grandchildren and greatgrandchildren. Not only a great mom, she was a great Mimi as well.”

Now, I understood that she could be very tenacious at times, maybe a little stubborn or even hard-headed as you had to coax her to do some things. Joy shares the times that Mae would make her dance costumes. It was not an easy thing for Mae to do but her tenacity and persistence paid off as the final outcome was just perfect. She also related that those traits of tenacity and strong-will seems to have continued down the generations.

Mae would enter eternal life on Tuesday, July 2, 2019 just one month after the passing of her last sibling; Troy on June 2, 2019.

She was preceded in death by her parents, 7 brothers, and two sisters.

Those left to cherish her memory and continue her legacy are her son; Mike Sears, daughter Joy Kirksey (Kirk), grandson Aaron Kirksey, granddaughter Sarah Everett (Adam), two great granddaughters; Hattie and Emerson, one sister-in-law, Georgia and many other extended family members and friends.