Mary Marguerite Wesney Pomeroy
"The Queen of Hugs"

 

Marguerite was born on October 11, 1923 to Julius and Mary Sabo Wesney at Corning, Ohio. She was the second of four children with brother Jack, and followed by sisters "Dodee" and Pat. Her father worked in the coal mines of Ohio but moved his family to Golden Acres, Texas in 1936 to get a better job in a more pleasant climate.

Marguerite met her future husband Clyde Pomeroy when they were students at Pasadena High School. She was a math wiz and always had paper clips Clyde could borrow. He was the quarterback on the football team and she watched from the sidelines as a cheerleader.

On their first date Clyde had to bring Marguerite’s brother Jack along as a chaperone. Clyde borrowed his father’s car and they went out for a strawberry "double dip" ice cream cone.

Immediately upon graduation Clyde and Marguerite wed. In the fall Clyde enrolled in Baylor University and the couple became parents on January 26, 1941 with the birth of their first child, David. On the night of delivery they went to a movie and then shared a cab with other travelers, arriving finally at the hospital after everyone else had been delivered to their destinations. David arrived that next morning.

In Clyde’s second year of college daughter Mary arrived on January 16, 1942. With four mouths to feed and the United States at war with both Japan and Germany in World War II, the family returned home to Pasadena where Clyde got a job at one of the shipyards on the Houston Ship Channel. They lived in their grandmother’s old two room house which had served as the first post office in the community of Pasadena. Son John arrived on July 9, 1944.

Clyde felt it was his duty to join the military to help fight the war and left the family for California where he was stationed in the Navy. Marguerite bundled David and Mary up and traveled by train to visit Clyde. Marguerite and the kids stayed with acquaintances in their travel trailer until one afternoon when Marguerite and the kids returned from shopping to find the trailer gone. They moved into a motel and continued their visit. Clyde was discharged on December 7, 1945 at the blimp hanger base in Santa Fe, Texas. He was so excited to get home again to his family that he forgot to take his watch off when he showered before departing. Every year the family continued to celebrate his ’muster out’ day.

Clyde returned to work drilling water wells with his father, John E. Pomeroy. The family moved into a house on McMaster Street and then later moved a block away to 114 Pomeroy Street. The subdivision had been an old family strawberry farm and was platted during World War II, with the streets named after John Pomeroy and his wife’s brother, former Mayor Clyde McMaster.

Marguerite’s new home was several blocks from shopping and often took the kids with her to pick up groceries. Adjacent to the old bridge at the entrance to the neighborhood was a fresh produce market. Chickens and fresh laid eggs were available. Marguerite would go into the chicken coop, point out the chicken she wanted and the butcher would dispatch the chicken on the spot and dress it out as Marguerite and the kids waited.

On special occasions Clyde borrowed his father’s car and the family would go on picnics or into Houston for more extensive shopping. About 1948 Clyde bought the first family car. Each summer John Pomeroy would rent a block of rooms at the Jack Tar hotel on the seawall at Galveston and all of the Pomeroy families would spend a week at the beach. When the U. S. S. Texas was permanently moored at the San Jacinto Battlefield in La Porte, the family traveled down to witness the event and hear Clyde re-tell his Naval adventures. Actually Clyde never saw combat as the war ended while he was in transit across the Pacific Ocean to the battle theater. We always felt that the Japanese got scared when they learned that "Tex" was on his way to fight.

Son Jim joined the family on March 13, 1949 and the family was complete. In part to keep the family busy the Pomeroys built a miniature golf course on the land adjacent to their home. Marguerite managed the business and the children assisted with the operation. Clyde and Marguerite prided themselves on providing good family entertainment and the business prospered. The profits from the business were used for family vacations and other special treats.

Marguerite would take her children on outings with sisters Dodee and Patty. They would go to the beach or to swimming pools. Most holiday events were shared at both Pomeroy and Wesney parents homes. Marguerite decided that time with her children was more important than house work. She believed in books and invested in Childcraft books and other encyclopedia type publications. If the children had questions, she would often point them in the direction of the library.

The Pomeroy home was the center of the neighborhood playground. Clyde acquired a water cooler and put it in the kitchen. Every kid in the neighborhood knew that they could come in the front door, get a sip of cold water from the drinking fountain and exit out the back door. Between baseball or football games in the nearby vacant lots or sodas and snow cones at the golf course, children were always around. Marguerite kept the flow of life moving smoothly.

In the fifties the kids were into all sorts of activities: from Cub Scouts through Eagle Scout; from Vacation Bible School through other church activities; from Little League Baseball to school sports; from school band through student government; the list was endless as Marguerite encouraged her children to participate, learn and enjoy. And then there was roller skating. There were endless hours of practicing, fitting and sewing costumes, travel and competition. Much of it was captured on 8 mm movie film and Kodak photographic film. However, as Mary recalled, mother laid down the law that the children were never to be too busy to stop to give a hug before leaving, and upon returning.

As the kids graduated from high school and went off to various colleges, Marguerite kept the home fires burning as Clyde worked to pay for the extra expenses. With David at the University of Texas, Mary at Baylor and John at Texas A & M, "baby" Jim pointed out that on any given football weekend, he was always rooting for a winning time (it might be different each weekend, but always there was one of the schools that turned in a victory).

Trampolines were added to the miniature golf course and Jim got very popular with all of his friends. And Marguerite juggled the work force which now included neighborhood kids as each of her kids left for college.

As the children grew and began forming families of their own Marguerite put her energy into helping her husband in his business. This relationship traveled through new avenues for the water well business and then shifted to oil & gas development and finally to stock investments. One of the best investments was an off hand remark by Marguerite that they should get some stock in the Walt Disney company since it was providing wonderful entertainment for children.

Marguerite loved to be with Clyde and they traveled much together in their later years. Son John provided them with tickets to travel around the world and they saw most of it on one fabulous trip. Afterwards they covered every inch of Canada and much of the United States. Because of their relationship with George Bush (the father), Clyde and Marguerite spent time in Washington, D. C. at political conventions and briefings. Because of Marguerite’s interest in Disney they visited Disney World several times.

Although Marguerite sometimes did not understand the path that her children were taking, she always accepted what they did as long as it made them happy. As grandchildren, and then great grand children entered the picture, her loving ways found new outlets for expression. Being a female "in-law" meant she was always sensitive to the women who married Pomeroy males and more often than not took their side in any domestic discord. She was the glue that kept things together.


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5.30.02