Obit of Payne, Mary Charles - Bryan County, Oklahoma Submitted by: Gene Phillips 1 Jan 2006 Return to Bryan County Archives: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ok/bryan/bryan.htm ========================================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm ========================================================================== :Mount Olivet Cemetery--Ft Worth TX Payne, Mary Charles 1914 - 2005 Sister Mary Charles Payne, a retired educator, died in Fort Worth on Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2005 at the age of 91. Mass of Christian Burial: 2 p.m. Saturday at Our Lady of Victory Chapel. Burial: Mount Olivet Cemetery. Visitation: Sister Mary Charles will lie in state at Our Lady of Victory Chapel beginning at 2 p.m. Friday, where a vigil service will begin at 7 p.m. Memorials: Her memory may be honored with a gift to the Sisters of St. Mary at Our Lady of Victory, 909 W. Shaw St., Fort Worth, Texas 76110 Hortense Ruth Payne was born in 1914 in Knottsville, Ky. The Payne family moved to Durant, Okla., and Hortense and her sisters attended St. Xavier Academy in nearby Denison. Inspired by the example of the Sisters of St. Mary, Hortense entered the novitiate in 1934, joining the community of which her sisters, Sister Theresa Marie and Sister Mary Elizabeth were members. Sister Mary Charles obtained a B.A. from Our Lady of Victory College and a M.Ed. from St. Louis University. She then began a lifelong career as an outstanding teacher, serving in St. Mary schools in Beaumont, Wichita Falls, Dallas, Fort Worth and Sherman. The "Sherman Sisters" community of Sister Mary Charles, Sister Alice, Sister Marion Celeste and Sister Regina taught, at St. Mary's School for 25 years, retiring together from formal teaching in 1991. They continued to serve the parish until 1996, when the community relocated to Our Lady of Victory in Fort Worth. When the Cuisinaire Method was introduced to the Diocese of Dallas in the 1960s, Sister Mary Charles and Sister Marie Anthony (Sister Alice Hunter) became "apostles" of the method. Sister Alice became the resident expert in the instructional system which uses relationships of colored "rods" to teach math. Sister Mary Charles used the method to teach Words in Color, a phonetic system of teaching reading using color to show the relationship between oral and written language. Even after her retirement from active teaching in 1991, Sister Mary Charles continued to tutor students using the Words in Color program. When the "Sherman Sisters" moved to Fort Worth in 1996, she and Sister Alice continued tutoring for a short time at St. George School and Our Lady of Victory School. Although her health declined in recent years, she was committed to a life of prayer and community concerns until the end. Sister Mary Charles was honored at the 2004 Jubilee Celebration for her faithful 70 years as a Sister of St. Mary. Survivors: Sister Mary Charles is survived by her sisters, Lottie Moore and Artie Wilson of St. Louis, Mo.; niece, Anna Miller; and nephew, Richard Duke and his wife, Linda, all of McKinney. Published in the Star-Telegram on 10/21/2005. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Return to Bryan County Archives: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ok/bryan/bryan.htm