Mary Louise (Kelley) Sims

Mary Louise Sims, 97, of Discovery Village at Alliance Town Center, 9901 North Riverside Drive, Fort Worth, TX 76244, died on October 3, 2023.

Mary was born in Chariton, IA on November 8, 1925 to Leo F. and Mary E. Smith Kelley.  She married Hobart C. Sims on October 7, 1948 at Sacred Heart Church in Chariton, IA.  He died May 7, 2007.

She graduated from Chariton High School in 1943 and Ottumwa Heights College in 1977.  She worked for the Soil Conservation Service in Chariton and Fort Dodge; in the Personnel Department for John Morrell & Co., Ottumwa; and retired as an executive secretary for Geo. A. Hormel & Co. in Ottumwa, December 1986.

Mary was an active member of the St. Patrick Catholic Church in Ottumwa serving on many committees in the past, was on the Lay Council, part-time organist, money counter for nearly thirty years and was a Eucharist Minister.  She belonged to the Alter & Rosary Society, served as president and was on many other committees.  She also is a part president of the TENCO Foundation and the St. Patrick Home & School Association.  In earlier years she was a leader for girl scouts, cub scouts (Troop 26), the Bluegrass Belles 4-H club and for several years served as adult state secretary for the Iowa High School Rodeo Association, attending the National Finals in Sulphur, LA and Helena, MT.  She had been a member of St. Joseph Hospital auxiliary, Catholic Daughters of America, the YWCA, the Ottumwa Saddle Club when she and Hobart raised horses and she belonged to Ottumwa Women’s Club.  She was very interested in genealogy and belonged to the Lucas County Genealogical Society in Chariton.  First of all, she loved family and friends, she also loved to sew, quilt to counted cross stitch (particularly P. Buckley Moss), music, RV-ing, camping and spending winters in the south, most generally in Arizona and other times in Florida, where she and Hobart had many friends.  She was active at St. George Catholic Church in Arizona where she helped make many quilts for the disadvantaged.

She is survived by her son, Stephen Nelson Sims and wife Mickey Joan of Haslet, TX; three grandchildren, Jason Patrick Sims and wife Marci Ann of Justin, TX, Jessica Lynn Holt and husband Eric Scott of Haslet, TX, and Jeffrey Michael Sims and wife Michaela Marie, of Trophy Club, TX; three great-grandsons, Cole Michael Plowman, Chase Stephen Plowman, Braedon Michael Sims, and two great-granddaughters, Olivia Marie Sims and Sophia Grace Holt; sister Helen Orman of DesMoines, IA; sister-in-law Linda Sims of Fort Myers, FL; and many special nieces and nephews.

Mary was preceded in death by her husband, Hobart in 2007; father, Leo in 1958; mother, Mary in 2001; brother, James in 2006; three sisters, Donna Jean Wilson in 1993, Johanna Weir in 1988, and Barbara Ripperger in 2006. 

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