Faye McCary
by: Charlene Cooper - Frost High School
Submitted by Dan Lunsford

            Faye McCary is easily the most traveled person in Frost, Texas.  Miss McCary, 95, has traveled extensively throughout Mexico and Canada.  In addition to her travels over the North American continent, she has visited Israel, Egypt, Syria, Turkey, Lebanon, Greece, Italy, Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway.  While in Sweden, she ventured as far north as the Arctic Circle.  Later she traveled to Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand, and the Philippines.

            Faye McCary was born in Frost, Texas, in 1904.    Her father was a butcher and at one time owned a small grocery store downtown.  Her mother sold hats in a millinery that adjoined the meat market that was located just east of downtown Frost.  Her grandfather J. B. Cypert was one of Frost’s six physicians at the turn of the century.  Today, she lives only one house down from where she was born and in the house on North Front Street that her father built when she was a very young child.

            Faye recalls her childhood in Frost as being an excellent experience.  She and her friends spent many afternoons playing tennis on a grass court near the railroad tracks.  As Faye recollects, they mowed the courts themselves and used a shovel to hand cut the lines that formed its boundaries.  These courts were located on what is now East North Front Street. 

            The railroad played an integral role in shaping Frost.  In fact, the city of Frost began as a smaller settlement known as Cross Roads.  This small community was located about two miles south of what is now Frost.  In 1887,when the Cotton Belt Railroad was built to connect Hillsboro and Corsicana, the residents of Cross Roads moved their town to the railroad.  After moving the town, the settlers set to work finding a name for their new community.  Originally, the residents considered naming the town Barry in honor of Bryan Barry, the owner of the land on which the town was located, but a town further up the line had already been named for him.  Instead, they chose to honor Judge Sam R. Frost of Corsicana.  Frost had been a close friend and business partner of Barry.

            Not long after the establishment of the town, which was located halfway between Corsicana and Hillsboro, the men of the community began digging a lake that served as a source of water for the steam trains traveling on the line.  This lake also served as a source of entertainment for the people of the community.  Miss McCary spent many hours fishing from the dam.  The lake also was an ideal location for picnicking.  On the edge of the lake, on the site of the current football field, was a large white building known as the “Tabernacle”.  This Tabernacle was a large open building with a nice roof and a dirt floor.  Wooden benches served as seating for the large number of residents and visitors from the surrounding communities who came to town to attend church activities, political rallies, and the occasional tent show that came to town.

            Mrs. McCary graduated from Frost High School in 1924and attended North Texas State Teachers College in Denton.  It was there that she first heard of the terrible destruction wrought by the tornado that struck Frost on May 6, 1930.  A friend called a couple of days after the disaster and told Faye, “I guess you know your hometown blew away.” Faye accused him of lying but soon realized he must be telling the truth when he began to read the names of the people who had been killed.  As Faye recalls, “He certainly didn’t know who those people were.”  Faye soon learned that all of her family was safe but that their home had been damaged slightly by the tornado.  The force of the wind as the tornado passed by had put a tremendous bow in a back door.  Faye’s father had waited out the tornado by hiding with some friends in a walk in refrigerator at the market.  The ammonia pipes used to cool the refrigerator were damaged by the storm and had begun to leak noxious fumes into the container in which the men were locked.  Finally, one of the men broke through the two panes of plate glass and released the lever holding the refrigerator closed.

            Following graduation from college, Miss McCary taught school in Denison for seven years.  Later she taught school in Sheppard, Texas, and Groves, Texas.  Eventually Miss McCary moved to Beaumont, Texas.  She remained in Beaumont for 17 years until her retirement in 1970.  Following her retirement in 1970, she returned to Frost.     

OBITUARY

Martha Fay McCary

Martha Fay McCary, 97, of Frost passed away Monday, Dec. 3, 2001 at Hill Regional Hospital in Hillsboro.

Services will be 10 a.m. Wednesday at Griffin-Roughton Chapel in Blooming Grove with the Rev. Robert Moon officiating. Interment will follow at Frost Cemetery.

She was born Nov. 9, 1904 in Frost to Dudley and Callie McCary. She graduated from Frost High School in 1924, attended North Texas State College in Denton and received her bachelor of science degree in 1939 and later received a master of education degree from University of Houston in 1949. she taught in Denison schools from 1939 to 1941, Groves schools from 1941 to 1946, and David Crockett Jr. High School in Beaumont from 1946 to 1970. She retired in 1970 and returned to Frost to live in the family home. She was a member of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Beaumont since 1947. She was also a member of Brandon Presbyterian Church in Brandon. She belonged to Delta Kappa Gamma Organization for Key Women Teachers, Beaumont Retired Teachers, Texas Retired Teachers, and National Retired Teachers.

She was preceded in death by parents; brother, Dudley Cypert McCary; and grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Arch B. McCary and Dr. and Mrs. J. B. Cypert.

Survivors include several cousins.

Arrangements by Griffin-Roughton Funeral Home of Blooming Grove