Amali Runyon Perkins 1915 - 3/6/2007
Mar 9, 2007 17:25:52 GMT -5
Post by Ira A. Runyan on Mar 9, 2007 17:25:52 GMT -5
Source: home.satx.rr.com/runyontidbits/
11/09/1915 - 03/06/2007[/div]
Amali Runyon Perkins, a longtime Runyon genealogist, died March 6, 2007, at her home in San Antonio at 91 years of age.
Amali was born 9 November 1915, in Brownsville, Texas, to Robert and Amelia Medrano Runyon. Her mother was a native of Matamoros, Mexico, whose family settled in northern Mexico in the 17th century. Her father, Robert Runyon, a native of Kentucky, moved to Brownsville in 1909.
Robert Runyon was appointed Brownsville city manager in 1937 and was elected mayor of Brownsville in 1941. He was a photographer from 1910 to 1926 and a merchant in Matamoros and Brownsville from the 1920s to the 1940s. He also was internationally recognized as a botanist who discovered a dozen new plant and cacti species and as a genealogist.
His daughter Amali and her sisters and brothers assisted him in all facets of his career, serving as photography models as young children, clerking in his stores in Matamoros, and helping him collect and categorize botany specimens from South Texas. In 1955, he published Runyon Genealogy in cooperation with his cousin, Amos Runyon, and received research and editing assistance from his daughter, Amali.
Amali attended elementary and high school in Brownsville and then enrolled at the University of Texas in Austin. While attending UT, actress Mae West recognized her as one of the University’s most beautiful co-eds by selecting her as a Bluebonnet Belle for 1934-35. She received a bachelor of arts degree from UT in 1936.
While at UT, she met Douglas S. Perkins of San Antonio. They married in Brownsville on 4 October 1937 and lived there for close to five years. They moved to San Antonio about 1942. Over the next 18 years, they had seven children.
After the birth of her last child, Amali became an elementary school teacher in the San Antonio Independent School District. Because she was fluent in both Spanish and English, she became a supervisor and curriculum specialist in the SAISD bilingual program. In this position, she authored Cosas Mexicanas, a book on Spanish songs, dances, crafts and games.
In 1966, she received a masters degree in education from Our Lady of the Lake University. She also performed post-graduate work at the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Texas at San Antonio.
After retirement from SAISD, Amali traveled extensively in the U.S. and in Europe, often combining her trips with research into her family’s genealogy including the Runyon, Lawson, Stone and related lines. For the last four years, she maintained this web site for Runyon family research and was instrumental in encouraging Runyon males to participate in a national Runyon Y-chromosome DNA program.
Amali was active in numerous civic and social groups over the years. She was a longtime member of the American Association of University Women and maintained an active role in the University Women’s Garden Club and the Garden Center for more than half a century. She was a perennial winner of Garden Club awards with arrangements inspired from plants she grew in her garden. She also was a longtime active member of the San Antonio Pan American Round Table.
In addition, she was a member of Delta Kappa Gamma, Kappa Kappa Iota, the Daughters of the American Revolution, Colonial Dames of XVII Century, United Daughters of the Confederacy, Daughters of the Republic of Texas and the Jamestown Society. She also recently authored a cookbook of family favorite recipes entitled Just Another Family Cookbook.
She was preceded in death by her husband, and one son, Robert Douglas Perkins. She is survived by her sister, Lillian Runyon Mahoney of Corpus Christi, and her brother, Delbert Runyon of Brownsville; six children, George-Anne Perkins Whitehurst of San Antonio, Richard Douglas Perkins of Houston, Amali Celeste McEntire of San Antonio, Beverly Perkins Maurer of San Antonio, John Douglas Perkins of Austin, and Stephen Douglas Perkins of Santa Fe, TX; 14 grandchildren; and 17 great-grandchildren.
Memorials may be sent to The Amali Runyon and Douglas Samuel Perkins Endowed Presidential Scholarship at the University of Texas at Austin and the ALS Association, 6800 Park Ten Blvd., Suite 220N, San Antonio, TX 78213-4211.
11/09/1915 - 03/06/2007[/div]
Amali Runyon Perkins, a longtime Runyon genealogist, died March 6, 2007, at her home in San Antonio at 91 years of age.
Amali was born 9 November 1915, in Brownsville, Texas, to Robert and Amelia Medrano Runyon. Her mother was a native of Matamoros, Mexico, whose family settled in northern Mexico in the 17th century. Her father, Robert Runyon, a native of Kentucky, moved to Brownsville in 1909.
Robert Runyon was appointed Brownsville city manager in 1937 and was elected mayor of Brownsville in 1941. He was a photographer from 1910 to 1926 and a merchant in Matamoros and Brownsville from the 1920s to the 1940s. He also was internationally recognized as a botanist who discovered a dozen new plant and cacti species and as a genealogist.
His daughter Amali and her sisters and brothers assisted him in all facets of his career, serving as photography models as young children, clerking in his stores in Matamoros, and helping him collect and categorize botany specimens from South Texas. In 1955, he published Runyon Genealogy in cooperation with his cousin, Amos Runyon, and received research and editing assistance from his daughter, Amali.
Amali attended elementary and high school in Brownsville and then enrolled at the University of Texas in Austin. While attending UT, actress Mae West recognized her as one of the University’s most beautiful co-eds by selecting her as a Bluebonnet Belle for 1934-35. She received a bachelor of arts degree from UT in 1936.
While at UT, she met Douglas S. Perkins of San Antonio. They married in Brownsville on 4 October 1937 and lived there for close to five years. They moved to San Antonio about 1942. Over the next 18 years, they had seven children.
After the birth of her last child, Amali became an elementary school teacher in the San Antonio Independent School District. Because she was fluent in both Spanish and English, she became a supervisor and curriculum specialist in the SAISD bilingual program. In this position, she authored Cosas Mexicanas, a book on Spanish songs, dances, crafts and games.
In 1966, she received a masters degree in education from Our Lady of the Lake University. She also performed post-graduate work at the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Texas at San Antonio.
After retirement from SAISD, Amali traveled extensively in the U.S. and in Europe, often combining her trips with research into her family’s genealogy including the Runyon, Lawson, Stone and related lines. For the last four years, she maintained this web site for Runyon family research and was instrumental in encouraging Runyon males to participate in a national Runyon Y-chromosome DNA program.
Amali was active in numerous civic and social groups over the years. She was a longtime member of the American Association of University Women and maintained an active role in the University Women’s Garden Club and the Garden Center for more than half a century. She was a perennial winner of Garden Club awards with arrangements inspired from plants she grew in her garden. She also was a longtime active member of the San Antonio Pan American Round Table.
In addition, she was a member of Delta Kappa Gamma, Kappa Kappa Iota, the Daughters of the American Revolution, Colonial Dames of XVII Century, United Daughters of the Confederacy, Daughters of the Republic of Texas and the Jamestown Society. She also recently authored a cookbook of family favorite recipes entitled Just Another Family Cookbook.
She was preceded in death by her husband, and one son, Robert Douglas Perkins. She is survived by her sister, Lillian Runyon Mahoney of Corpus Christi, and her brother, Delbert Runyon of Brownsville; six children, George-Anne Perkins Whitehurst of San Antonio, Richard Douglas Perkins of Houston, Amali Celeste McEntire of San Antonio, Beverly Perkins Maurer of San Antonio, John Douglas Perkins of Austin, and Stephen Douglas Perkins of Santa Fe, TX; 14 grandchildren; and 17 great-grandchildren.
Memorials may be sent to The Amali Runyon and Douglas Samuel Perkins Endowed Presidential Scholarship at the University of Texas at Austin and the ALS Association, 6800 Park Ten Blvd., Suite 220N, San Antonio, TX 78213-4211.