Funeral services for Mary Belle Watson Blagg will be held at 2:00 P.M. on Thursday, March, 15, 2012 at St. Mary’s Catholic Church, 1105 Main Street, Brownwood, Texas with Father Francis Njoku celebrating the funeral Mass. Interment will follow at Greenleaf Cemetery under the direction of Davis-Morris Funeral Home. Mrs. Blagg died on Sunday, March 11, 2012, at the Brownwood Skilled Nursing Center. She was 86-years-old.
Mary Belle worked as a homemaker until 1972 when her last child graduated from Brownwood High School then she assisted her husband in the management of Weakley-Watson, Inc. until his retirement in 1980 after which she assisted her son, Bill Blagg, in his management of Weakley-Watson, Inc. until the early 1990’s. While her children were in school, she was an active room mother and P.T.A. member and supported her daughter’s membership in the Brownwood High School Drill Team and her son’s membership in the Brownwood High School Band. She actively served the community she loved as a volunteer and an officer in the Brownwood Hospital Auxiliary, as a member of the Board of Directors of the Brownwood Regional Medical Center, and as a volunteer for the Brownwood Meals on Wheels Program, the Brownwood Good Samaritan Soup Kitchen, and for the Brown County March of Dimes to fight birth defects.
Her father, W. Lee Watson, was the first baby baptized in 1895 at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Brownwood where his daughter, Mary Belle, was a lifelong member serving in many parish organizations and activities throughout the years and where she raised her four children in the Catholic Faith. She actively supported and encouraged the priesthood of her brother, William Watson, who, in 1953, was the first member of St. Mary’s Catholic Church to be ordained as a priest in the Oblates of Mary Immaculate Order.
Mary Belle’s great grandfather was J. C. Weakley who, along with her grand-father, Lee Watson, founded Weakley-Watson Hardware Company which first opened for business in 1876 and which is currently the oldest hardware store in continuous operation in the State of Texas. In 1993, Mary Belle Blagg was honored with the Outstanding Women Over 40 Achievement Award given by the Brownwood Jaycees in conjunction with the Brownwood Chamber of Commerce.
Mary Belle was proceeded in death by her husband; her parents; her brother, Rev. William L. Watson, Jr., OMI; brothers-in-law Victor Schaffer of Austin and Raymond Blagg and wife, Rosemary Blagg of San Angelo.
She is survived by two sisters, Ann W. Schaffer of Austin and Jane Watson of San Antonio, her four children; four grandchildren; David Blagg and wife, Julianna, and Jeff Blagg, all of Silver Spring, MD; and Lezleigh B. Seery and husband, John, and Perry Blagg, all of Houston; and one great-grandchild, Brooklyn Seery; cousins Rosemary Watson Leonard of Irving, Kay Watson of Holliday of Flordia; Walter W. Watson Jr. and wife June of California; and Ann Carey Pitcock and husband, Larry, of Houston and Watson Family and Friend Renee Snow of Houston; nieces and nephews; Lisa Schaffer and Martha Schaffer Nalepa of Austin; Rev. James Blagg and wife, Caroline of Durant, Oklahoma; Robert Blagg, DVN and wife Dorthy, of New Braunfels; and Dr. Marilyn Blagg Cox and husband, Mickey, of West Monroe, Los Angeles; and Special Lunch Bunch friends, Wanda Romig, Joyce Harrison, Babbie Painter, Marie Gramann, Nancy Miller, Mary Marshall Holley and Bernice Porter Paul.
Memorials may be made to: the Brownwood Public Library; St. Mary’s Catholic Church of Brownwood, Texas; and the America Alzheimer’s Association.
Mary Belle Watson Blagg was an avid reader of books, enjoyed travelling with her husband throughout the world, and was a devoted care giver to her parents and many elderly family members. Her deep Catholic faith and her solid marriage to Joe W. Blagg gave her the continuity and the stability to ensure that her family hardware business would thrive for 136 years and that her four children would follow her example of a graceful and quiet leardership in this community. Her children do hereby dedicate themselves to the continuation of her legacy.
