Muriel Elizabeth Wicks Escobar

December 29, 1927 – March 28, 2014

Family Visitation on Sunday April 6, 2014, 2:30 to 4:00 PM, St Rita Catholic Church, 12521 Inwood Rd, Dallas. 3:00 PM Rosary led by Deacon Bill Schuster. Memorial Mass celebrated on Monday, April 7, 10:30 AM, St Rita Catholic Church, Msgr. Rev. Robert Coerver and Deacon Schuster presiding.

In lieu of flowers, please make donations to Catholic Charities of Dallas, or the charitable organization of your choice. Condolences may be made at: www.calvaryhilldallas.com

Muriel Elizabeth Wicks Escobar

Beloved wife, sister, mother, grandmother and great grandmother left us peacefully on March 28, 2014 after a courageous and extended battle with cancer.

Muriel Elizabeth Wicks was born on December 29, 1927, in Houston, Texas, the first of two children born to Frank and Gladys Wicks. A depression-era toddler, she started school at the age of five; given her ability to read, she was promptly placed in the second grade. At the height of WWII, Muriel was the drum majorette for Jefferson Davis High School, where she graduated as Valedictorian at the tender age of 15. She continued her studies at the Rice Institute, then adhering to the Navy’s year-round schedule of classes, and graduated with an English major at age 18. Muriel is still the youngest-ever editor of the school’s newspaper, The Thresher. After an all-too-cold winter of post-graduate studies at Wellesley College in Massachusetts, she providentially returned to Texas to continue her education at The University of Texas at Austin. There, in December 1948, she met a dashing young diplomat who was just beginning his illustrious career in the Mexican diplomatic service. A whirlwind “clash of language and culture” romance ensued, culminating in Holy Matrimony on June 25, 1949.

By All Saints Day, 1955, Javier and Muriel would welcome five children, four boys and finally a girl, born in Mexico City, Dallas and New York City. Another daughter would follow in 1961 in Brussels, Belgium, and yet another in 1965 back in Texas. As a young mother, she managed a family that would move to six major cities in three countries, including Italy, and three different languages. Once settled back in her native Texas, Muriel wasted no time to resume her dormant teaching career, instilling a passion for Spanish and French to a generation of girls at The Hockaday School, while brilliantly maintaining the role of a consular wife. As Javier’s career progressed in Dallas, Los Angeles, and finally San Diego, she continued teaching while earning yet another Master’s degree and authoring a Spanish textbook.

Upon Javier’s retirement as Consul General, they moved back to their “roots” in Dallas in 1989, to begin their final chapter as Mimi and Abuelito to a growing brood of grandchildren. Muriel did not slow down, continuing to tutor privately, conducting Spanish classes for middle-aged women, volunteering at the hospital and in religious education, serving as a meticulous docent at the Meadows Museum, and participating in Bible studies. An avid genealogical researcher -- without the benefit or use of the internet -- she traced her lineage to the Mayflower and beyond, earning for herself and all of her daughters the distinction of becoming members of The National Society of Colonial Dames of America.

In the early 90’s, Muriel was diagnosed with breast cancer and began her three decade bout with the disease. She approached her fate as she had embraced all of her life’s challenges and lessons, eventually defeating the initial manifestation. This enabled her to live well and fully into old age, caring for her mother until her passing at age 99, and celebrating family weddings, births of grandchildren / great grandchildren, and major Escobar reunions, particularly her 50th wedding anniversary, 80th birthday, and then co-celebrating her 85th with her husband’s 90th in December of 2012.

Muriel is preceded in death by her father “Papaw” Frank Melville Wicks, mother “Mamaw” Gladys Paine Wicks, and granddaughter, Maria Guadalupe Escobar. She is survived by her devoted husband of 64 years, Javier Escobar Sr. and brother Moye Wicks and his wife Shirley; children Javier Jr. and wife Michelle, and their children Gabriel and Veronica, Federico and wife Cecilia, and their children Monserrat and Jaime, Pablo and wife Margaret, and their children Michael and Rachel, Francisco and wife Frederica , and their children Stephen (and wife Aly), Anne Marie, Caroline, Stephanie and Matthew, Teresa and Scott Fisher, and their children Natalie (and husband Brennan Ochs), Andrea and Cristina, Anita and Jim Miles, and their children Ryan and Andrew, and Monica and Marcus Trevino, and their children Sarah, Catherine, Peter and Taylor, as well as great grandchildren Cole Anthony Escobar and Peyton Elizabeth Ochs.

The family cordially invites all guests to a reception in Sweeney Hall immediately following the Memorial Mass.