Mary James DePeri

Mary was born in Boone, North Carolina, the eldest of four sisters. Her mother Lena, a pioneer in birth control, and father Ernest, an agriculture teacher, also owned a dairy farm in Vilas, N.C. They produced milk and delivered it to the Boone community. Mary grew up milking cows and helping the family earn a living, as did her three younger sisters.

In the early 1950’s her father accepted a job with the U.S. Agricultural Department, sold the farm, and moved the family to Lakeland, Florida. When the Republican Party lost the election, her father became a regional salesman for Compton’s and Britannica encyclopedias while her mother, who was a neo-natal nurse, worked at Lakeland General Hospital and later Tampa General Hospital in Tampa, Florida.

Mary grew up in Lakeland and attended Lakeland schools. After graduating from Lakeland Senior High School, she attended the University of South Florida with the hopes of obtaining a teaching degree in social studies. In the fall of 1966, her father drove her to Abilene, Texas to attend Hardin Simmons University, a Baptist college. Mary planned to pursue a degree in political science with a minor in history and education so that she would earn a teaching certificate for the State of Texas. While at the college she met a young man, Frank DePeri, who was teaching political science. She got to know him, while not in any of his classes, and they began dating. In 1967 she did finally become a student of his in a Texas government class.

In late 1967 Mary and Frank became engaged, and in May 1968 they married in Boone, her hometown. In the fall of 1968 they moved to Seguin, Texas where Mary got a job teaching in Somerset, Texas schools. She taught there for three years while Frank taught at Texas Lutheran College in Seguin.

In 1971 they moved to the Dallas area, where Mary got a job in the Plano school system in 1972. She taught middle school at Bowman Middle School for thirty-five years, retiring in 2007. In addition to teaching school, she helped raise two boys, Jonathan and David and volunteered in a number of activities, especially in her advocacy for the Texas Education Association and National Education Association. She was also active in the family’s church, the First Baptist Church of Plano, and sang for decades in its choir.

In 2007 Mary was diagnosed with early Parkinson’s disease and began treatment. In her last years the disease took hold on her mobility, memory, and general health, and she passed away after six months in long-term and hospice care at Life Care Center of Plano, Texas. Her sister Lottie also died this year suffering from the same disease, Parkinson’s. Mary is survived by two sisters, Amy and Ruth, two sons, Jonathan and David, her husband Frank, and various nieces grandnieces and grandnephews. She is remembered by many who knew her as a woman with a special loving soul, whose life was a testament to her values and beliefs.

The memorial service for Mary James DePeri will be on Friday, September 15th. 2023, at 3:30 pm., at the First Baptist Church of Plano, 3665 West President George Bush Highway, Plano, Texas, 75075. Their phone number is 972-424-8551.