DENTON — Alice Elizabeth Ramsay Waddell McCrary died Oct. 11, 2012, in McKinney, Collin County, at Emeritus at Stonebridge.

Her death was gentle and soft, and she was able to hear by phone selections of music played by her son, and poems handwritten for her as a child by her great aunt, transcribed by her daughter and read that day by her hospice nurse, Amber. She was visited by staff throughout the day, and rested comfortably.

Alice was born Dec. 23, 1924, in Marshall, Harrison County, at her parents’ apartment on Pemberton Street with a midwife and physician in attendance. The family soon moved to and she was reared in Greenville, Hunt County, in the Bourland Street home of her grandmother, where all enjoyed their firm roots.

Her father, Malcolm Ramsay, born in Pennsylvania, moved to Tennessee where he first married and his son, Malcolm Jr., was born. Following the death of his wife, he chose Greenville, where his wife’s sister had moved with her husband, one of the principal officers of Wesley College. Here he became city engineer for Greenville, practicing privately as a civil engineer.

Her mother, Alice “Mimi” Bumann, was born in Illinois. She had been a teacher, finding employment as her father, Albert M. Bumann, also born in Illinois, took the family far and wide, establishing manual arts departments in new colleges in Oklahoma, Kansas and finally, Alpine, Brewster County, where he died in 1920. His widow, Kate Shaver, born in Iowa, and his daughter moved to Greenville, where both were educators, Kate as librarian at Wesley College, “Mimi” a high school teacher. “Mimi” and Malcolm married in 1922. Alice’s stepbrother, Lt. Malcolm Ramsay Jr., died in Florida in 2006.

Alice had two wonderful husbands: she married Cleveland Barrett Waddell (Waddle) in Greenville in 1943, and Maj. Dee Gordon McCrary in Denton in 2009, both “Aggie men.” She graduated Greenville High School and attended North Texas State College for Women, receiving her degree from TWU when her children were in secondary school.

She kept fully occupied throughout her life — was secretary for Dr. Higgins of the TWU Chemistry Department, was self-employed as typist for graduate dissertations, owned Waddell Interiors, worked in the Design Department of Moore Business Forms in Denton, worked for FEMA-Denton in emergency intake, and loved being a volunteer leader for Brownies and Girl Scouts.

 She grew up as a member of the First Presbyterian Church, Greenville, but joined Wesley Methodist and remained a member of the First United Methodist Church, following her first marriage. Alice and Cleve both were officers with Denton Arts Council, and she studied watercolor technique, exhibiting regularly.

Alice is survived by her husband, Dee McCrary of McKinney; son Richard Waddell; daughter Elise Bowen; a granddaughter and two great-granddaughters, all of Massachusetts; niece Judy Waddle Klein, great-niece Miriam Klein and great-nephew Aaron Klein, of Denton County; a nephew, David Eugene Waddle, of Connecticut; nephew Malcolm Ramsay III of Georgia; cousin Linda James of Florida; cousin Niky Kretschmar of Indiana; and her good and loyal friends Beverly Zerbe, Mr. and Mrs. Harold Heiberg, “Boots” Ferguson, Dolores Herndon, Terri Stewart-Jones and Cindy Fry of Denton, Donna Jensen of Dazzle Chihuahuas in Denton County, Bob Clyatt of McKinney, and Mary Shull Powell of Greenville.

Fond and special thanks go to Donna Bluhm of Geri-Options/Denton; to staff of Emeritus of McKinney Hospital, of NewWay (Novus) Hospice Care and to previous healthcare providers. Warmest thanks and appreciation to the McCrary family.  Memorial donations to Denton Animal Rescue are most welcome.

A memorial service will be at 1 p.m. Sunday in the chapel of Mulkey Mason, Jack Schmitz and Son Funeral Home, 705 N. Locust, in Denton. Jessica Wright will be officiating the service.

Online condolences may made at www.mulkeymasondenton.com