Faye Bramlett McDade passed away peacefully Sunday, Sept. 21, 2014, at her home in a senior care center in Fort Worth at 91 years. Graveside service: 1 p.m. Friday in Mount Olivet Cemetery. Memorial service will be at 3 p.m. Friday at University Christian Church. The services will be conducted by the Rev. Larry Thomas and Dr. Gilbert Davis. Visitation: 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday at Mount Olivet. Faye was born April 29, 1923, in Fort Worth to Gus and Carrie Rust Bramlett. Faye graduated from North Side High School and attended Brantley-Draughon Business College. Faye met her life partner and husband, Jack H. McDade, when working at Consolidated Vultee, which later became Lockheed Martin. After Jack and Faye were married she went to work for A.V. "Jack" Lewis, executive vice president, at First National Bank, Fort Worth. Faye had her first and only child, Marsha, and even though she exhibited a highly skilled proclivity for business, she chose to be a stay-at-home mother in her daughter's early years. When her daughter, Marsha, entered kindergarten at Our Lady of Victory School, Faye volunteered almost daily. As Marsha grew older, Faye realized her skill set needed to be more challenged, so she accepted a job with the Texas Boys Choir School, which eventually became the highly recognized Trinity Valley School, Fort Worth. She was hired by TVS's first headmaster, Stephen Seleny. While Faye's title was business manager, she went well beyond that, acting as secretary to the board of directors, driving students to athletic and selling concessions at basketball games and jumping into anything else that she recognized needed doing. She retired from TVS in 1969, then worked at Nolan High School for two years after her daughter graduated in 1970. After her daughter's marriage, Faye and Jack built a campground on Table Rock Lake in Missouri called Shoreline. They sold the campground in the mid-1980s. Faye had always wanted to open a flower shop and so she was blessed to work for TCU Florist from May 1987 until she retired in 2011. She happily took floral orders, while convincing customers that a box of chocolates would make that dozen roses even more special. She loved her TCU family and often said, "I would pay them to let me work here!" Faye loved to travel and enjoyed treating her children and grandchildren to trips to Disney Land, Disney World, Lake Tahoe and Hawaii. She also traveled to Europe and the Orient. Faye was preceded in death by her husband of 63 years, Jack; her brother, Ernest Bramlett; and her parents. Survivors: Daughter, Marsha Hodges (Jim Hodges); grandchildren, Jason Hodges (Clarissa), Justin Hodges (Kasey Joy), Candace Stone (Jeff) and Meghan Hodges; great-granddaughters, Caroline Ruth, Julia Elizabeth, Eres Jane, Charlee Joy and Delta Faye; sister, Jane Burt of Fort Worth; sisters-in-law, Flo Bramlett of Fort Worth, Phyllis Nicholl of Amarillo and Pat Steiger of Lemon Grove, Calif.; nieces, Gail Hankinson, Karen Fleming, Linda Kilgore, Susie McDade, Tara Minnick, Carrie Moffet, Jill Safi, Sherilyn Webb and Laura Yoder; nephews, Dick Burt, Mike, David, Peter, Richard, Chris McDade, Rex, Larry, Clark Nicholl, Ted and Bob Steiger. Faye left behind so many good friends whom she dearly loved.
Published in Star-Telegram on Sept. 24, 2014