Maryallen Meriwether

Maryallen Hess Miller Meriwether passed away on April 13, 2021 in Kerrville, Texas at age 93. She was born in Idabel, Oklahoma to Lita Harrell Hess and Charles Allen Hess on April 26, 1927. She married J. Keith Miller on June 8, 1949 in the family home in Durant, Oklahoma. She later married William T. Meriwether from Alpine, Texas on October 10, 1985. Maryallen spent all of her school years in Durant, OK, graduating from high school a year early. Joining her sister, Susan, at Gulf Park Junior College in Gulfport, Mississippi, she was involved as editor of the yearbook, glee club and participated in many musical presentations. She won the "Best All Around" and "May Queen Court" awards and then headed off to the University of Oklahoma in Norman for her last 2 years of college. At OU, Maryallen majored in Fine Arts (Piano) and was a member of the Beta Theta Chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma. She was also a yearbook Beauty Queen for the Engineering Department. After graduating and getting married, she devoted herself to her children and to her husband's career as they moved around the country in the oil business, seminary and then as a partner in the beginning years of the Laity Lodge Conference Center on the H.E.Butt Foundation near Leakey, Texas. Maryallen raised her three girls, Leslie Winfield Miller Williams, Kristin Susan Miller Provence Huffman, and Mary-Keith Miller Dickinson, teaching them to find God in nature and to develop independence and ease socially and grammatically. Reading to them from the time they were babies, she gave her girls a love of all books and the wonder of reading. An avid traveler, she opened the world to them, first with a globe and encyclopedias and then by taking them on trips, introducing them to travelling the world. She worked for a number of years with the Austin symphony and volunteered at local garden clubs and church thrift stores (the Cottage Shop, most recently) in the many different places she lived. She became a Master Gardner as she found solace and peace through a love of dirt, the planting and tending of plants, flowers and trees. She had a deep appreciation for God's hidden treasures found through music and hymns, playing piano, watching birds, digging for crystals and minerals and looking for arrowheads. She was always active in her church wherever she lived, finally at St. Peter's Episcopal Church, Kerrville. Her love of music carried her through her life and she found great joy in singing praises to God in the church choir. Maryallen was preceded in death by her daughter Leslie Miller Williams, son-in-law Thomas Provence, previous spouses John Keith Miller and William T. Meriwether, parents Charles and Lita Hess, her sisters, Juliana Hess Arnot Kenney (and husbands Clinton Arnot and Clayton Kenney), Mildred Hess Wilson (and Homer Wilson), Susan Hess Chamness ( and husband Gene Chamness), nieces, Johanna Wilson McLeod and Adrienne Arnot, and niece Susan Coton's husband Fred Coton. Survivors include daughters Kristin Miller Provence Huffman (Mike) and Mary-Keith Miller Dickinson (Karl), and son-in-law, Stockton Williams. Maryallen's grandchildren are Markus Miller Provence (Elliott Powell), Becky Provence Prichard (Colby), Mitchell Dickinson, Mary-Blair Dickinson (fiancé Colton Morris), Jerre Williams (Jessica), Caroline Williams (fiancé Josh Johnston), and Lizz Provence Swanson (Chris). Her great-grandchildren are Cora and Thomas Prichard, Allison Cahela, Kayden and Brennan Williams, Evelyn and Carter Williams, Remi Johnston, and Callie and Cole Swanson. She is also survived by her sister Hilda Hess Bourne (Douglas), nieces Susan Wilson Coton, Laurie Bourne, Janalee Bourne McDonald (Morris), Caroline Chamness (Bill Rainey), five great-nieces, their families and many friends. A memorial service will be held for the immediate family at a later time and her ashes will be interred in the family plot in Durant, OK. The family wishes to extend our special thanks to her hospice nurse, Jessie Parkman, along with the entire staff of Peterson Hospice, and also all the staff at Brookdale/Juniper Village Skilled Nursing for taking such good care of her in these last months of her life. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be given to Peterson Hospice, 250 Cully Dr, Kerrville, TX 78028; the National Parks Conservation Association, 777 6th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20001 (www.npca.org); St. Peter's Episcopal Church Choir or the Cottage Shop, 320 St. Peter's Street, Kerrville, TX 78028, or the charity of your choice.