Rosemary Green

Rosemary McMurtry Green, 81, of Amarillo, passed away on Thursday, September 28, 2017 in Amarillo.

Memorial Services will be at 10:00 AM Monday, October 2, 2017 at First Christian Church with Rev. Barry Loving as officiant. Arrangements are by Schooler Funeral Home, 4100 S. Georgia.

Rosemary was born on April 12, 1936 in Amarillo to Robert Lee and Mary McMurtry.  She lived 9 years with the most deadly branch of the leukemia family, never talked about it, soldiered through chemo and a clinical trial until fragility and long trips to Houston took their toll.

Rosemary was the youngest of the three McMurtry sisters, born as the sun rose on Easter Sunday, April 12, 1936.  Rosemary perfectly fit words from the nursery rhyme, “Sunday’s child is fair and wise…”.  Rosemary started life cranky with colic; she emerged sunny and smiling, and never looked back.

As a small girl whose thick hair was plaited in twin pigtails and her green blue eyes, Rosemary approached life with joy.  Her smile was infectious; her smile was always there:  Rosemary wrapped the world around her little finger throughout her lifetime.  She was genuine to the end.

A rare childhood failure was her refusal to swallow a large daily vitamin pill.  She would sit at the breakfast table alone, until finally, grabbing her Shirley Temple mug, she choked the pill down.  The battle was renewed the next day.

Rosemary attended Wolflin School, Elizabeth Nixon Junior High where she was a cheerleader, and the original Amarillo High School.  She attended Mount Vernon Junior College in Washington, DC, her first two years, and completed her studies at the University of Texas with a degree in government.  She was a Pi Beta Phi who earned her 50 year arrow, plus another 9 years.

A keen observer of sports, in particular college football and professional baseball, Rosemary could provide odds on any game that caught her attention.  She was a diehard supporter of the Texas Longhorns and Chicago Cubs, but admitted to being a huge fan of Yankee shortstop, Derek Jeter.  She watched games at Wrigley Field, Old Yankee Stadium and Fenway.  Even went to Fla one year to watch Red Sox in spring training.  Rosemary had a lifetime subscription to Sports Illustrated.  She was seldom seen without her copy.

At UT she met the centerpiece of her life, George Green, a lanky Austin boy with a penchant for baseball and head for numbers.  They married in October 1958, and were a genuine partnership for 60 years.  Two daughters, Polk Green and Shannon Barnett rounded out the family.

A woman of many talents, Rosemary personified chic, was an expert in needlepoint, a master of crosswords, host to innumerable lost cats which sensed, like the hobos of the 1930, where kindness lived.  She loaned her time and talents to the Planned Parenthood and the Junior League of Amarillo.

A great beauty, Rosemary was strict about her appearance, fastidious about her makeup and grooming.  Pain aged her, but she never slouched off with her brushes, creams and colors.

Rosemary’s fame as a cook was legend.  She once donated her faultless flakey pie crusts to a fund raiser, thereby becoming the pie crust queen of Amarillo: an inadvertent star.  What started as a lark became an endless flow of pie crusts.  Thinking to end the game Rosemary banned the crusts: whole pie, or nothing.  A second business began.  She raised the prices outrageously to squelch the demand.  As her renown subsided, she continued quietly making a few on the side for favorite friends.

Rosemary thrived on travel, from her first trip outside the U.S. to Bermuda in 1955 to her last, a river cruise in Portugal in 2015.  She was an ace navigator for many years for her sister, Carol Fowler who drove her dogs to Maine; she smoked cigars in Cuba and drank port of Oporto; made multiple trips to cooking schools in Italy, France and Spain with friends from Maine, surprising the group one year in Italy with her immediate expertise at handling pasta dough.  Rosemary then revealed her pastry making history.

Rosemary was whip smart and shrewd, her warmth and smile were legend, as were her number of friends.  She was on top of local and national news, could provide the bookmakers’ odds in multiple sporting events.

She managed family farming interests representing her mother, herself and sisters in their RCR organization in Dallam County.  Weekly trips to Dalhart, weather notwithstanding, kept their farming interests running smoothly and profitably.

Rosemary was a woman of many parts:  she was a child of sunshine, she pursued life and family and friends deeply, truth was her friend, the ready smile and joy with which she greeted life hid a will of iron.  She was a wife, mother, grandmother and sister who brought joy and happiness to all who paths she crossed.

Rosemary is survived by her husband, George Green, daughters, Polk Green and wife, Melissa Miles of Dallas and Shannon Barnett and husband, Kirk Barnett of Amarillo; sister, Carol McMurtry Fowler of Austin; granddaughter Currie Kelln, grandson Will Barnett of Amarillo; one niece and three nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Mary and R.L. (Bob) McMurtry, and older sister Roberta McMurtry Hicks and husband, Wiley Hicks Jr. and brother-in-law, Marion Dudley Fowler.

The family wishes to give thanks to the caregivers of Accolode Hospice Care.

Family suggest memorials to go to Snack Pak #4 Kids – 701 Park Place Avenue – Amarillo, Texas 79101

Condolences may be shared online at www.schoolerfuneralhome.com.