PHOEBE RYAN HIGGINBOTHAM

(1919 - 2018)

Phoebe Veranna Ryan Higginbotham, 98, was born April 7, 1919, in Denton, Texas, and died January 30, 2018, in Denton, Texas.  Her parents were Earl H. Ryan and Mary Emma Stuart Ryan.

Phoebe was predeceased by her parents, her husband, Rev. James Pierce Higginbotham and her brothers Earl Shelton Ryan and his wife Jean and Wayne Stuart Ryan and his wife Melbagene. She was also predeceased by her brothers and sisters in law, Everett Dewitt and Willie Mae Higginbotham and Henry Grady and Eula Mae Higginbotham, daughter in law Wendy Carroll Higginbotham, niece Shelly Ryan Langley, nephews Robert Ryan and Henry Higginbotham.

Phoebe is survived by a son, two daughters, 7 grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren:

Daughter Patricia Jean Clark and husband Richard of Denton, Texas; their children Justin Edward Clark and wife Tami of Houston, Texas, and their children Ellisann Gabriella, Eden Juliet, Ryan Edward and Chelsea Grace;  James Ryan Clark of Austin, Texas; Alexa Pena and husband Daniel of New York, New York.

Daughter Mary Katherine Beal and husband Frank of Plano, Texas; their children  Katherine Ann Beal of Allen, Texas; F. Andrew Beal and wife Tricia of Olathe, Kansas, and their son Alexander James.

Son Ernest Ryan Higginbotham and wife Donna McKay of Dallas, Texas; Ernie's children Pierce Ryan Higginbotham of Austin, Texas and Ethan James Higginbotham of Dallas, Texas; Donna's children Ann Sanchez and husband Abel of Dallas, Texas and their children Mia and Leo; Rebecca McKay of Brookline, Massachusetts, and her children Jenna Kiel, Benjamin Kiel and Megan Kiel; Susan McKay of Cheyenne, Wyoming and her children Pi Isom and Lillian Isom.

Visitation will be on Friday, February 16, 6:00-8:00 pm at Mulkey-Bowles-Montgomery Funeral Home 705 N. Locust St, Denton, TX 76201 ( www.mulkeybowlesmontgomery.com ).

Phoebe's Service of Witness to the Resurrection will be at 10:00 am on Saturday, February 17, at Hickory Creek Baptist Church, 5724 Teasley Lane, Denton, TX 76210, ( www.hcbconline.net ).  Rev. John Peal will officiate. The church is adjacent to Old Alton Cemetery where she will be buried with four generations of her family.  Pallbearers will be grandsons and grandson in law:  Justin Edward Clark, James Ryan Clark, F. Andrew Beal, Pierce Ryan Higginbotham, Ethan James Higginbotham and Daniel Pena. Following burial, the family will welcome friends for lunch at her home, 730 W. Ryan Road, Denton, TX 76210

In lieu of flowers, a donation may be made in Phoebe's name to Faith United Presbyterian Church, 12717 Marsh Ln, Farmers Branch, TX 75234; St. Paul Presbyterian Church, 2000 W Panola St, Carthage, TX 75633; Trinity United Methodist Church, 633 Hobson Ln, Denton, TX 76205; or to a charity of your choice.

Phoebe was born on April 7, 1919, in a long-gone rent house at the end of Sanders Road in Denton.  At her death she lived a few hundred yards to the south in the white house atop the hill at 730 W. Ryan Road where she grew up.

Her parents, Earl H. and Mary Stuart Ryan, moved from the rent house to the Ryan family's two story home when her grandfather, Shelton Ryan, died and her grandmother, Ida Belle Ryan, moved to Denton so that her younger daughters could attend college.  Unfortunately, the house and all that was in it burned when Phoebe was four.   The family moved into a tent and then into an old house once grain stored in the house could be cleaned out.  Finally, in 1924 her current home was completed.

Phoebe was a farm girl and early learned the necessity of hard work.   Her grandparents, John W. and Emma Stuart had an extensive farming operation that extended along Teasley Lane to the Hickory Creek bottoms. Phoebe's parents eventually farmed over 200 acres along the south side of Ryan Road, which was named for her father who gave much of the right of way. The Ryan farm's cash crop was cotton, but they also grew corn, oats and hay, and raised cattle, hogs, chickens, turkeys and vegetables.  They ran a dairy and sold butter and eggs in Denton. Phoebe worked in the fields from the time she was big enough to wield a hoe.  When she was 11, her older brother, Shelton, suffered a leg injury that required extensive hospitalization in Dallas.  Because her parents spent so much time in Dallas, Phoebe and her younger brother, Wayne, had the responsibility for running the farm including milking cows and separating milk each morning before they went to school.  Even while she was in college, Phoebe picked cotton to earn money to buy material to make her clothes.

Phoebe attended Center Point, which was a Denton County School.  The school housed 11 grades (12th grade had not been invented yet) with two primary teachers, an English teacher and a principal.  Because Center Point was a demonstration or lab school, the faculty was supplemented by student teachers from North Texas State Teacher's College, who would arrive via an old station wagon every 45 minutes.  Phoebe and her brothers walked two miles to school every day. She was very athletic excelling as a guard in basketball and a pitcher in "hard baseball."  At the annual County Meet at the College she also participated in poetry reading, declamation and creative writing.  Her lifelong love of learning began at Center Point.

Her family attended Old Alton Baptist Church (now Hickory Creek Baptist).  She was baptized in Hickory Creek.   The church was the center of the community's social life.  Many of her family members are buried in the adjacent Old Alton Cemetery:  grandparents, parents, aunts and uncles, brothers and her husband.

In 1936, Phoebe graduated from Teachers College High School (aka Center Point)  and entered North Texas State Teacher's College (now University of North Texas) at the age of 17.  She majored in Home Economics with minors in Chemistry and English. Except for the one semester she lived on campus in the Home Economics House, she "commuted" to school by catching rides with her brothers who worked in town, as her parents did not own a car. Unfortunately, they did not always accommodate her schedule, so she got good at sprinting down Oak Street to avoid being late to class.  (If you were late, you had to go to the Dean of Students to get a permission slip to attend class.)  In 1940, Phoebe graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Home Economics and a teaching certificate.

As soon as she graduated, Phoebe left home to go to work for the U.S. Department of
Agriculture in East Texas as a Home Supervisor for the Farm Security Administration, a Depression-era program to combat rural poverty. She met co-worker James P. Higginbotham in Gilmer, Texas.  After he enrolled at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, they were married on June 30, 1943, at St. Andrews Presbyterian Church in Denton.  After a honeymoon in Fort Worth and Waco, they moved into the Valley Mills Presbyterian Church manse for the summer. In the Fall, they moved to Austin and  lived in a garage apartment across from the Seminary.  Because James belonged to the Presbyterian Church (USA),   they did not qualify for the housing provided to Southern Presbyterian students. For two years, Phoebe taught grades 1-3 at Hornsby Dunlap Elementary School outside of Austin.

In 1945, James graduated from Seminary and was ordained as a minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA), and Phoebe was a preacher's wife for 56 years.  They served Texas churches in Winters, Mabank, Cleburne, Dallas, Carthage and Frisco.

Phoebe taught Home Economics at Winters High School in 1945-46.  As her children became old enough to be in school, she began a 20 year career with the Dallas Independent School District as a substitute teacher and then as art teacher at San Jacinto Elementary, her children's school. She also pursued graduate studies at Texas Woman's University in Denton. When the family moved to Carthage, Phoebe taught fourth grade at Baker Elementary School for 9 years and did graduate study at Stephen F. Austin State College in Nacogdoches.

In 1968 the family moved to Farmers Branch so that James could take a position as a Dallas County Juvenile Probation Officer, which provided more financial security for a family with three children in college.  Phoebe rejoined Dallas ISD teaching third, fourth and second grades at Victor Hexter and Harry Stone. After teaching school for 30 years, Phoebe retired from the Dallas Independent School District in 1984.

Phoebe loved to travel.  In retirement Phoebe and James enjoyed traveling on bus trips with a group from Mary Immaculate Catholic Church in Farmer's Branch.  Later, she continued to travel on bus trips with groups from Trinity United Methodist Church and on cruises with family and friends to Alaska, New England and the Caribbean. On a trip to Oregon to visit Ernie's mother in law, Phoebe persisted in getting to stick her toe in the Pacific Ocean.  She always was ready to go to see new places and things.

Phoebe loved her home. When her mother died in 1988, Phoebe inherited the family home and 52 acres of the family farm in Denton. Until James' death in 1999, they frequently spent time at the house.  In 1992, her daughter, Patty Clark, and her husband, Rick, built a home on the property.  In 2006, Phoebe decided to sell her home in Farmers Branch and to move back into the house she had left 66 years earlier.  She expanded and updated the house, and carefully maintained its warmth as "home."

Phoebe loved to garden.  Wherever they lived, Phoebe and James always had a backyard vegetable garden.  Whether it came from James' Texas A & M horticultural degree or their Depression-era farm life, they liked to grow things you could eat.  After she inherited the farm, they maintained a substantial vegetable garden there.  To her last days, the flowerbed by her back door contained tomato plants as well as flowers.

Phoebe loved her handwork.  Of necessity, Phoebe learned early how to sew and to make clothes - sometimes with store bought material and sometimes with material from decorated feed sacks.  In retirement, she enjoyed quilting and cross stitch and embroidery.  She always had a project going, one remains unfinished.  When James died, she took his ties and made a decorative tie quilt.  Then she made a small wall hanging tie quilt for each of her children.  She was pleased to have been able to quilt a baby blanket for each of her five great grandchildren

Phoebe loved her church.  Counting the churches James served while in Seminary, Phoebe was the "preacher's wife" in over a dozen Presbyterian Churches.  She joyfully fulfilled this role by teaching Sunday School and vacation Bible School, serving in Presbyterian Women and hosting Circles.   In Farmers Branch she was active in Covenant Presbyterian Church which has become Faith United Presbyterian Church, where she maintained her membership.  After moving to Denton, she attended Trinity United Methodist Church with her daughter Patty.  She enjoyed being involved in the Pastor's Bible Study on Tuesdays, the senior group, Prime Timers, worship on Sundays and other activities at Trinity.

Phoebe loved her family.  For all that she did and accomplished, Phoebe felt and demonstrated that her family was "job 1."  She had her hands full with three babies under three and a half.  She stayed home and gave her undivided energy to nurturing her children, not returning to work until they started school.  While in Cleburne and Carthage, Phoebe cared for her mother in law in her home.  Phoebe's mother spent the last several years of her life living with Phoebe and James.  The farm became her family's focal point for birthday celebrations and Christmas gatherings.  After the deaths of the rest of her generation, "Aunt Phoebe" became the loving matriarch for both the Ryan and Higginbotham cousins and extended family.

Phoebe Ryan Higginbotham was loving and greatly loved.  She will be missed but fondly remembered.