Honoring the Life, Love and Legacy of Sis. Mary F. Bolden
MARY FRANCES EVANS BOLDEN was born on March 30, 1929 to Perry Evans, Sr. and Etta Turner Evans in Mt. Pleasant, Texas. She was one of eight (8) children born to this union.
Mary received her early education in Morris County and graduated from Booker T. Washington High School in Mt. Pleasant, Texas. Her journey would lead her to the Dallas School District, where she was retired after many years of service.
Early on, Mary accepted Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior at Mt. Mitchell Church of Christ in Omaha, Texas. Later in life she moved to Dallas, Texas, and placed her membership with Marsalis Avenue Church of Christ, where she remained for many years.
“Miss Mary”, as we called her, was a traveling person. From Dallas, Texas, she moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma. She then relocated to Los Angeles, California and then to Houston, Texas. She later moved back to Dallas, Texas, and her last stop was in the country to her parents home in Omaha, Texas, which is ten miles from Mt. Pleasant, Texas. From there, I went and moved her back to Houston to be near me (Ruth) so I could take care of her. The twenty years I lived in Beverly Hill, California, I sent for her at least twice a year and she would stay with me as long as she wanted. She had been on two cruises and was planning another one two years ago at the age of eighty nine, before she took ill.
Everywhere Mary went, she would always find her a job working with beautiful clothing. In the sixties, she owned two dress boutiques in Third Ward, Houston, Texas. Style and fashion was “her thing”.
Mary was in every one of her nieces and nephews lives. Every time any of her sisters and brothers took ill or passed away, the children would look up and say, “Oh, there comes Aunt Mary.” They knew they were in trouble if the house wasn’t clean because she would come in and get them straight, then give them two hours to clean up. By the time they :finished, she would have fried :fish or chicken and all the trimmings ready for them. Often they would sit down and watch TV together. Yes, she was the family nurse and doctor. She would stay at least two to three months before she returned to her home.
More than anything, Mary was a trooper for The Lord. She peacefully departed this life on August 17, 2020 at the Windsor-Quail Valley Post-Acute Healthcare Center in Missouri City, Texas. She was preceded in death by her parents, Perry Sr. and Etta Evans; late husband of 15 years, Lewis Bolden; one son, Joseph Taylor; three sisters, Ella Mae Mitchell, Annie Lee Hill and Alice Marie Brown Johnson; and two brothers, Jack Evans and Perry Evans, Sr.
She leaves to cherish her memory her devoted daughter, Ruth Bason of Houston, Texas and loving son, Marcus Bolden of Houston, Texas; two sisters, Dorothy Lee of DeSoto, Texas and Edvernell Davenport of Mt. Pleasant, Texas; God daughters/The Davenport Twins, Alesha Brown and Myesha Applewhite of Dallas, Texas; adopted niece, Doretha Stephens; adopted daughter, Sara Wooten; adopted son, James Spencer, all of Houston, Texas; and a host of other nieces, nephews, cousins and friends that she loved dearly.
Ruth: My mother told me two weeks ago, “When I die, I don’t want to look like a sleeping angel; I want to look classy…the way I looked when I go to church on Sundays at the South Union Church of Christ.” God bless her soul!
