Betty Mulhern McKay

Betty McKay, mom, granny, sister and friend left us Sunday, February 2, 2020.  She was living at Willow Springs in Abilene at the the time.  She was 83, soon to be 84.

Mom was born in Nevada, Missouri on March 15, 1936 to Charles and Carol (Connor) Mulhern.  They moved to Abilene from Missouri at the end of World War II.  She graduated from Abilene High School in 1953, and started working for attorneys in the Abilene area after graduation.  She was elected President of the Taylor County Legal Secretaries Association in the 1960’s and was grandfathered into the Paralegal system when it began.  She knew every attorney and judge in Taylor and Brown Counties.

On December 23, 1955, mom married her one and only, Wayne McKay.  They spent most of their life living in Brown County on the Pecan Bayou.  As soon as they got their two girls married off, they hit the road! They lived in Lake Charles, LA, Farmington, NM, Woodward, OK, and several other places.  They loved to travel.  When Daddy died, she came back to the Bayou before moving into Abilene and resuming her career.

In 2000, she retired from the law community and began working for Home Instead Senior Care.  For ten years, she worked as a companion/sitter.

While living in Farmington, mom started bowling.  She was a member of the USBC and past President of the Sunday Trios.  She and Carol attended 15 straight National Bowling Finals held all over the US.

The travel bug was set deep in mom.  She got us hooked on going to a resort every year mainly in the Mayan Riviera.  At most of the resorts, they had piers…and docked at those piers were HUGE boats.  We were off on more adventures.

Mom was preceded in death by her husband, Wayne McKay, her parents, and a dear brother and sister-in-law, Jo and Barney White.

Left to miss her are her two daughters, Ronda (Craig) Franke of Baird; Carol (Ricky) Bennett of Hawley and her most prized granddaughter, Mckayla Rose Bennett of Hawley.  Also, her brother Ron (Lynda) Mulhern of Kerrville; and her “second” brother Gary Hendrix of Abilene; longtime family friend Scooter Wright and numerous friends, cousins and nephews.

At her request, she was cremated, and her ashes will be returned to the Bayou.  A celebration of Betty’s life will be held Saturday, February 8, 2020 at 11:00 AM at the Baird Senior Center, 401 Chestnut.  The family requests, instead of flowers, that donations be made to either Abilene Meals on Wheels or Baird Meals on Wheels.

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