“the most loving, caring human being” she ever met.
“And as the preacher said at the funeral, she never
met a stranger; if you were a stranger, she didn’t let
you get away until she talked to you and knew you,”
Murphree said.
Murphree said a palpable sense of loss permeated
Mary’s funeral service.
“They asked us to stand up and speak [about Mary],
and not a person did, because not a one of us could do
it without crying,” she said. “Every one of us would have
just lost it. That’s how precious she was.”
Murphree said Kemp’s contribution to Parker County
life was considerable and that she will be missed.
Lifelong friend Jamie Bodiford agreed.
“I grew up with Mary and her family,” Bodiford said.
“I was actually on the historical commission when I was
in my 20s, and now I’m back on the commission 40
years later. I can tell you she was a tireless worker for this
county.”
Part of Kemp’s legacy, Bodiford said, involves the
centerpiece of Weatherford’s Downtown Square.
“She was always involved and encouraged the
commissioners to do the right thing when it came to
our courthouse,” she said. “She had such a love for that
courthouse.”
Bodiford said Kemp also loved her bluebonnets, her
county, her kids and Texas Butane.
“I will miss her and I loved her dearly, without a
doubt,” Bodiford said. “She was spunky and feisty and
Mary Kemp at 2014 Shaw-Kemp annual event
knowledgeable. She was a one-of-a-kind lady. She was a
true Renaissance woman.”
The general consensus on Mary Estelle (Carnes) Kemp
seems to be that her long life and many efforts greatly
enriched the cultural fabric and nourished the roots of
Parker County, Texas, a place she clearly loved to call
home.
27