Bess Slay

Mrs. Reed Slay, 93, the former Bessie Meade Hubby of Waco, the daughter of Mr. & Mrs. A. G. Hubby, passed away Tuesday, August 15, 2006. She was the great granddaughter of Caleb Meade Hubby, one of the founders of Waco. Also, the great granddaughter of Captain N. T. Snead, Waco?s first school teacher and the great niece of Major George Erath, Waco surveyor. Bess was born December 15, 1912 in Waco. She graduated from Waco High School in 1929 where she was Concert Master of the Waco High School Orchestra and President of the Pep Club her senior year. That year she was very active in church work. Besides being active in Austin Avenue Methodist Church, to which she belonged, she also belonged to the Orchestra of the Columbus Avenue Baptist Church and the Orchestra of the Central Christian Church. At the time of her death she was a member of the First United Methodist Church of Hillsboro. She was a member of the Baylor Symphony while in Baylor from which she graduated in 1933. She was also President of the Urbanites, a Baylor town girls organization. After graduation she taught school in Itasca for two years. She married Reed R. Slay in 1936 and he preceded her in death in 1984. After their marriage they lived in Itasca until he was the first Pre-Pearl-Harbor draftee from Hill County. Bess then taught school in Waco. Mr. Slay was a prominent International Cotton Merchant and he and Mrs. Slay traveled every year for 25 years in either Europe or the Far East extensively. Bess was a past president of the former Ruskin Club of Itasca, past president of the Franklin School P.T.A. of Hillsboro; she served as 2nd Vice-President, 1st Vice-President and President of Capitol District of the Texas Federation of Women?s Club. She was a Life Member of T.F.W.C. She was a member and past president of Triangle Forum of Waco. Also, she was a Life Member of Sesame Club of Hillsboro and served as it?s President twice. She was a member of the Heritage Club of Baylor. Bess was also preceded in death by her son, Stephen Hubby Slay, in 1996; brother, Albert G. Hubby, Jr.; and nephew, Dana Hubby. Mrs. Slay was honored as a ?Texas Woman of Distinction? in 1962. She is survived by her daughter-in-law, Jere Lou Slay; two grandsons, Matthew and wife, Alicia, and daughter, Sydney, and Samuel Slay all of Dallas; sister-in-law, Pat Hubby, of Dallas; one nephew, Albert G. Hubby, III Bert of Texhoma; one niece, Cindy McReynold, her husband, Clay, and their children, Tricia and Shaun, of Mansfield; and a cousin, Zoe Ann Sheehey and husband, Bob, of Waco.