MATTIE BERYL MONTGOMERY EVANS was a lawyer in
Tulia & died there on June 7, 1995. She married
Burrell Evans and at the time of her death, she
was living in Tulia, TX. She had a son Gerald
Evans. Her brother, Garland Montgomery was also
in the Ranger High School Class of 1935 at Ranger,
TX & while serving during a campaign in WWII was
lost and never found.
Excerpts follow from the late Johnnie Fay Patterson
Smith's autobiographical family history, No Crystal
Stair as provided by Charles C. Chaney of Cleveland,
Ohio (originally from Bell County, TX). Mrs. Smith
was a friend and housemate of Mattie Beryl Montgomery
and Avis McKelvain (both RHS Class of 1935) while they
were students at Baylor (and later).
“When I returned to 609 Dutton in Sept. of 1937, I
found that two new girls had moved into the bedroom
across the kitchen from me. Avis McKelvain and Mattie
Beryl Montgomery were former students at Ranger Junior
College. Mattie was a freshman law student and Avis
was a speech major who was to be a part of Professor
Glenn Capp’s very successful debate teams. Both girls
were friendly and we soon worked out an arrangement
where I sometimes shared meals and kitchen chores with
them. In the months that followed, I met their parents,
Mattie’s brother, Garland, who was a student at TCU;
and Avis’ brothers, J.H. (RHS-1940) & John (RHS-1943),
who were still in high school. And I met their boy
friends. Among their many male friends my favorites
were two of Avis’ suitors, Steve Preslar (RHS-1936),
whom she later married, and Teddy Wickens.......
Not all the strong personalities at 609 Dutton were
mature women. My suite mates also influenced me. For
the first time in my Baylor days, I began to feel that
I might make some friends. Although at the start, I
did not feel entirely at ease with Avis and Mattie
Beryl. I soon felt that they treated me as an equal.
I admired Mattie Beryl because she seemed to have an
indomitable will to succeed in the law, a field then
not overrun with females. There was no doubt that
she was brilliant. I felt that she would be more than
a match for the men in the department. Mattie had a
wonderful smile and an outgoing personality. Avis
was a member of a prize-winning debate team and also
excelled in oratory and extemporaneous speaking. I
wondered if Avis really felt at ease with acting and
oral interpretation, but when the time came for her
senior speech recital, she chose the very difficult
Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand. I thought that
choice showed real courage and flair for she could
have chosen something much less demanding.
"At the beginning of my senior year Mattie moved into
a dorm and I shared a room with Avis. A few months
later Verna Baker moved into my former room. Verna
was cheerful and optimistic. We were soon close
friends. Verna’s mother reminded me of my own mother.
She was a determined lady who seemed to have a spirit
of hope that spurred me on. Avis, Mattie, and Verna
turned out to be true-blue friends. We may not see
each other for ten or fifteen years, but always we
immediately feel the old closeness. As I expected,
they all grew to be wonderful women, each strong and
successful in her own chosen field and life style.
I’m proud that through fifty years we have loved and
respected each other.”