Mary Ann Haley

Mary Ann Haley, 77, was called home to be with the Lord on Monday, December 14, 2009 at Hendrick Medical Center in Abilene due to cardiac arrest. Services will be held at The Hamil Family Funeral Home at 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, December 16, 2009 with Bro. John Fanning officiating. Burial will follow in Haskell, TX where she will be laid to rest in a family plot at Willow Cemetery. Mary Ann was born in Weinert, Texas on June 30, 1932. She was the only child of Ad Y. Nunley (1906-1939) and Gracie May Mitchell (1912 - 1990). Shortly after being born in Weinert, her father moved their family to Evansville, Indiana where he worked in his brother's trucking company, and her mother was a homemaker. One of Mary's most remarkable childhood memories was being rescued when she was 5 years old from a second-story window in their house during the great Ohio River flood in January 1937. Then in 1939, her father passed away suddenly when she was 7 years old, resulting in Mary and her mother moving back to the family farm in Haskell, TX to live with her grandparents, James Robert and Vernon Mitchell. Grace Nunley remarried when Mary was a teenager to O.C. Ledbetter who became a loving step-father to her for the rest of his life. Mary graduated from Abilene High School, attended Hardin-Simmons University for a couple of years, then married L. D. Haley. Mary worked briefly as a secretary and assistant in a dental office prior to her career as mother and homemaker, as well as accountant keeping books and financial records for L.D.'s business ventures including Acquinn Chemical Company, Keystone Oil Company, and Thurber Stone. She was an excellent seamstress sewing quilts and clothes including many western-yoked cowboy shirts used by her sons when they competed in rodeos. She also enjoyed garage sales and flea markets as a hobby. Mary Ann Haley loved her family, and her purpose in life was to take care of those she loved. Mary and L.D. began their family on November 29, 1961 with the birth of their first son, James Robert Haley, then a year and five days later, their youngest son, William Dale Haley, was born on December 4, 1962. She and L.D. built a log cabin house with horse barn and lighted pipe arena on Oldham Lane in the late 1960's. She enjoyed her country style home with numerous pets including her Eskimo Spitz dogs, Border Colley named Gertrude, and favorite race horse, Romee Oh. The arena was constructed right out her back window so she could watch her boys spend countless hours roping. If you were Mary's friend, then you were a friend for life. She spent over 30 years working with Paula Martinez Gonzales who was considered a part of Mary's family since she lived and worked in the family's home. Mary was preceded in death by her husband, L.D. Haley (2003). She is survived by her step-sister, Ruth Hazen, of Lexington, KY; her two sons, James Robert (Jim Bob) Haley, 48, of Sweeny, TX and William Dale (Billy) Haley, 47, of San Clemente, CA; one daughter-in-law, LaRayne Lynn (Hopper) Haley, 46, San Clemente, CA; and four granddaughters, Jamie Rae Waites - Graduate of San Angelo State University, 24, of Lubbock, TX, Dalli Dayle Haley - Graduate of The Art Institute of San Diego, 22, of San Clemente, CA, Lindsey Marie Waites - Junior at Texas Tech University, 21, of Lubbock, TX., Raycie Grace Haley - Sophomore at Irvine Valley College, 20, of San Clemente, CA. In lieu of flowers, the family has requested that memorial donations be made to the Saint Jude Children's Research Hospital at: 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis TN 38105.