Mary Lou Hamilton of Midland passed away peacefully at home with family members at her side on Tuesday, January 1, 2019. The family will receive friends from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM on Sunday, January 6, 2019, at Nalley-Pickle & Welch Funeral Home, Midland, Texas. A Celebration of Life will be held at 11:00 a.m., Monday, January 7, 2019 at First Presbyterian Church in Midland, with Dr. Steve Schorr officiating.Mary Lou was born on August 14, 1931 in Los Angeles, California as Mary Lou Reynolds and moved with her family to Texas at the age of 4. Raised by her mother Betty Livingston and her loving stepfather Mora (Slick) Livingston during WWII, they relocated back to California to build ships for the war effort. After the war ended, her family moved back to Crane, Texas where she graduated from Crane High School with 30 classmates in 1949. Mary Lou then trained to become a Nurse at the West Texas Hospital School of Nursing in Lubbock, Texas, becoming a Registered Nurse in November of 1952. She met James H. (Jim) Hamilton and they were married May 14, 1953 and settled in Midland, where they have lived for all of the last 67 years. Mary Lou and Jim, an independent Geologist, raised their family struggling through hard times, droughts and the cyclical oil industry roller coaster with many a story of sharing meager meals and family sacrifices common to most in the Permian Basin at the time. She found a second family working at the Mast Clinic on Illinois Ave. and at Midland Memorial hospital for over 41 years. Mary Lou retired from professional nursing in 1994 but never stopped being a nurse. Those friends and family asking a medical question needed to be prepared for the medical books and the Merck manual to be brought out for answers. If you knew Mary Lou the patient as a doctor, you needed to do your homework for her appointment. She kept herself busy with continuing education through Memorial Hospital and the Midland College system. Mary Lou took life and her profession head on with a no-holds barred attitude and little patience for less than exemplary effort by those around her. With the children grown, Mary Lou found many happy hours doting on her dogs, loving them and admiring their intelligence. Her later years were filled with travel, loving interaction and fellowship with her Sunday school and church family from First Presbyterian Church of Midland, and dedication and attention to her family. As this is being written, the walls surrounding her work space and the folders of her computer are filled with photos of those that she loved the most.Mary Lou is survived by her loving husband of 65 years, James H. Hamilton; three children: Steve Hamilton and his wife, Laurel, of Broken Arrow, OK, Charlie Hamilton and his wife, Karla, of Austin, TX Kathy Carlton and her husband, Bill, of Allen, TX; and 5 Grandchildren and 8 Great-Grandchildren with a 9th expected this month.The family would like to express their gratitude to the wonderful people at Home Instead Senior Care and Hospice of Midland.Arrangements are under the direction of Nalley-Pickle & Welch Funeral Home & Crematory of Midland. Online condolences may be made at www.npwelch.com.,
