Mary Carrier

Mary Carrier was born Mary Ramsey on November 7, 1921, in Princeton, Missouri, to Carlton Leroy Ramsey and Bertha Powell Ramsey. She was the youngest of six siblings, four brothers and one sister.

After attending business college, Mary moved to Holdenville, Oklahoma, in her twenties to work as a bookkeeper for her older brother Rolland’s lumber company. In 1947, she met Dan R. Rives, the head of an oil drilling company. They had two children: King, born in 1948, and Ann, born in 1950. In a letter to Ann, dated March 1957, she wrote “Dad and I had our first date June 1, 1947. He asked me if I would like to go out for a nice quiet evening, dinner and a show. From that day on until we were married, we had a date for lunch and every evening until we were married. It was love, pure and simple, after the first date.” Dan died of lung cancer in 1956. In 1962, Mary remarried to Alan Carrier, an accountant, and the family relocated to El Paso, Texas. Alan was a loving stepfather to Ann and King, and later in life, Mary and Alan loved spending time with their grandchildren, Adam and Elisa. Alan died following a fall in 1988.

Throughout her life, Mary thrived on work. In fact, she attempted retirement several times before it would take. Like her second husband, she worked as an accountant and bookkeeper. Her last job in El Paso was as Chief Financial Officer of Goodwill Industries. She always kept busy, and her hobbies included cooking and baking; sewing, quilting, and needlepoint; gardening; reading; collecting knick-knacks; and playing bridge.

After her stroke in 2001, some doctors believed she wouldn’t walk again. But as ever, she was strong-willed and determined. She learned to walk with the assistance of a walker as well as to write and paint with her left hand. She took up cross-stitching and produced hundreds of paintings, which her family collects; birds and flowers were her specialties.

Mary was smart, resourceful, and, as her own accountant of many years said, “tough as nails”; she lived for fourteen years following her stroke. She kept her sense of humor and her fiery spirit until the end. She passed away on Thursday, October 8, in the presence of her family. She is survived by her children, King and Marydel Rives and Ann and Michael Gabbert; her grandchildren, Adam Gabbert and Elizabeth Harvey; Elisa Gabbert and John Cotter; and Channing Rives; and her great granddaughter, Mira Jane Gabbert.