Extracted from The Odessa American (Odessa, TX)
Sunday, October 19, 2008

Mary Catherine Torrey

ENGLEWOOD, COLORADO -- Mary Catherine Torrey of Centennial, Colorado died on Saturday, October 4, 2008. She was born in Dixon, Mississippi, the first child of Bonnie Warren Watkins and Gwendolyn Marie Hinton. When she was about ten years old the family moved to Hattiesburg, Mississippi, where she attended the public schools and studied voice as a special student at William Carey College.

During World War II she was a civilian secretary at Maxwell Army Air Field in Montgomery, Alabama. Later she was head of the secretarial department at Hercules Powder Company in Hattiesburg where she met her husband, John. W. Torrey. They were married April, 4, 1950 and moved to Dallas in December of that year. In Dallas she was active in the Central Congregational Church where she was often a soloist in the choir. Her two children, Gwendolyn T. Black and James M. Torrey, were born in Dallas, and in 1958 and 1959 she was secretary to the managing architect during the construction of the Southland Center.

In December of 1959 the family moved to Odessa, Texas where she was an active member of the First Presbyterian Church for over 40 years- in the choir, as a Sunday school teacher and as the leader of the Cherub Choir for 4, 5 and 6 years olds. She was a member of the Civic Concert association and for many years a member of the Odessa Symphony Guild of which she served as president. She served on the board of directors of the Permian Basin Rehabilitation Center for many years and as it president for one year. She was also on the Board of the Crystal Ball Foundation, the main fund-raising organization for the Rehab Center, and was its president in 1976. Also she was a member and two-time president of the Odessa Book Club.

Her lifelong avocation was music. She was an accomplished pianist, having been taught by her mother and her aunt, Irene Huthmaker, both private piano teachers. She had perfect pitch and an outstanding ability to sight-read. Several years ago she was working her way though J.S. Bach's Well-tempered Clavichord, and in spite of her Alzheimer's, was still playing the piano as recently as eight months ago.

She was preceded in death by her parents; and by her brothers, Warren Hinton Watkins and James Craven Watkins, all of Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

She is survived by her husband, John; and daughter, Gwendolyn, of Centennial; her son, James of Summerfield, North Carolina; and three grandchildren, Safford Black of Centennial, Nathan Black of Cambridge, Massachusetts and Carolyn Black of Centennial.

A memorial service is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday, November 1, 2008, at First Plymouth Congregational Church in Englewood, Colorado, followed by a reception at the church. Private interment will be held at Fort Logan National Cemetery in Denver Colorado. If desired, memorial contributions may be sent to Permian Rehabilitation Center, 620 North Alleghaney Ave. Odessa, Texas 79761.