Region 6 People - Mabel Matthews

Mabel S. Matthews
August 23, 1917 - June 6, 2010
by Ray Houston

Hemerocallis 'Mabel Matthews'
(Jack Carpenter, 2008)
Photo Courtesy The Lily Farm

Mabel S. Matthews, 92, passed away Sunday, June 6, 2010. Mabel was the daughter of John Raymond and Lillie Mae Connell Mullis. She was preceded in death by her son, John Raymond Matthews in 2004, and her husband, Marshall in 2005.

Mabel's love of flowers went back to her childhood in Charlotte, North Carolina, near where she was born and lived on a small farm. Her grandmother and grandfather lived next door and had a large farm and flower garden.

Mabel and Marshall were married in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, where he was stationed in the Air Force. He was later transferred to Pinellas Air Force Base, Florida, for two years and was on assignment in Brazil for six months until World War II was over. Mabel moved alone to Fort Worth, Texas, and worked at General Dynamics (now Lockheed) in the legal department. Upon Marshall's return, he and Mabel with their young son settled in Fort Worth. Marshall began a 35-year career with General Dynamics. Mabel continued her work with General Dynamics and later worked with three oil executives for 15 years. While working in the oil industry, Mabel attended Texas Wesleyan University, Fort Worth, majoring in business and completed the requisite accounting courses. This led her to a 45-year career as a real estate broker. Mabel and Marshall built a new home between Fort Worth and Dallas. She also purchased many rental homes and an apartment complex as fixer-uppers, and maintained them for many years. In the early 1950's, they purchased a home in Hurst, Texas.

Mabel visited the Mansfield, Texas garden of "Daddy Tom" Hughes, Sr., a local grower of Daylilies and Irises. She slowly acquired daylilies that suited her. She found that she wanted to dab pollen and see what she could do on her own. In 1987, she registered her first daylily, Hemerocallis 'Lady Callie', named for a daylily friend. Mabel registered 61 cultivars, primarily with the pre-name of "Hurst."

Mabel enjoyed the friendship of daylily friends who visit her Hurst garden each bloom season, and in 1995, her garden was designated as an official Region 6 American Hemerocallis Society Display Garden. Mabel has been a member of the North Texas Daylily Society since its beginning.

Mabel has provided scholarships for women in need of assistance enrolled at Texas Wesleyan University in Fort Worth and Tarrant County Junior College. It was only natural she thought of members of American Hemerocallis Society. In 2008, the American Hemerocallis Society Board approved the terms for an annual $5,000 scholarship which is named the Mabel Matthews Scholarship Endowment Fund in her honor and is to be awarded to a maximum of two individuals each year. The scholarship pays tuition for an American Hemerocallis Society member for a minimum of 12 hours credit for one semester at most universities.