Pauline Mills Edwards Delaney
Pauline Mills Edwards Delaney
August 17, 1920 ~ January 27, 2017
Pauline Mills Edwards Delaney, 96, died Friday, January 27, in Houston, Texas. A memorial service will be held at Emerson Unitarian Universalist Church, 1900 Bering Drive, at 2 p.m. Saturday, March 18.
Pauline, known to many as Polly, was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on August 17, 1920, to Mary Christine (Hanks) and Paul Roger Mills. Her father, an independent oil man, moved the family to Houston, Texas in the early 1930s.
Pauline had a lifelong love of poetry, journalism, politics, travel, fishing and, later in life, birdwatching. Her favorite works were her poetry and interviews with Ima Hogg and Ladybird Johnson.
Pauline attended Sidney Lanier Junior High, where an essay she wrote for San Jacinto Day won a gold medal from the Houston Junior Chamber of Commerce in 1936. When Lamar High School opened, she became the first editor of the school paper, the Lamar Lancer.
Pauline graduated from Oklahoma A&M college (now OSU) in 1942, where she studied journalism. While in Stillwater she did freelance work for The Daily Oklahoman of Oklahoma City, and was a feature editor of the college newspaper, the Daily O’Collegian.
On graduation day, she married William McBrittain (Mac) Edwards and they moved to Peoria, Illinois, where she did a short stint as a reporter for the Peoria Star.
When the war ended, they moved to Houston, where Pauline worked as a reporter for the Houston Press and other local publications, including as editor of the First Unitarian Church newsletter.
In 1958, Mac fulfilled a lifelong dream by purchasing Cherry Springs Ranch in Spicewood, Texas, from Bertha and J. Frank Dobie. They were not immediately able to take up residence there, as Mac’s work with CAMCO Inc. took them to Belfast, Northern Ireland, for six years first.
While in Spicewood, Pauline worked as a feature reporter for The Highlander of Marble Falls. In the early 1970s, she became involved with organizing against the ill-fated Project Sanguine. In 1977, she was invited to become the bill llerk for the Texas State Senate.
In 1980, Pauline enrolled in the University of Texas LBJ School of Public Affairs. After earning her master’s degree, she married Andrew Delaney and returned to Houston. During the past 30 years, she published various poems and feature articles in the Houston Post, Houston Chronicle and the Texas Poetry Calendar, among others. She traveled extensively and enjoyed participation in the Houston Writers Workshop. She also authored a family history titled “Wearing Genes.”
Pauline is survived by her daughter, Beverly E Hanson (Bob) of Houston; son, William M Edwards (Ann) of Austin; stepdaughter, Janet Delaney (Jack Morrison) of Austin; five grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. She is also survived by her sisters, Betty Rose of Asheville, North Carolina, and Ruth Hemphill of Kingsland.
