Rebecca "Becky" Mae (Shay) Bowers

Decatur ~ Rebecca “Becky” Mae (Shay) Bowers, 97, went to be with our Lord Saturday, June 5, 2021.

Becky was born February 11, 1924 to Chris W. and Willie Mae (Wright) Shay in Progresso, New Mexico. Her parents had migrated in the early 1920’s in a mule drawn wagon from Texas. Becky’s schooling began there in New Mexico and then continued in Bisbee, Arizona where her father moved the family so he could work at the Copper Queen Mine. She met her first and second husbands in Bisbee. In addition to Arizona, she would be a homemaker in Washington, California, Florida, and finally Texas, as she accompanied her husbands over the years. 

During WWII, she was a “Rivet Bucker” in a defense plant in San Diego. Becky was an avid bowler, often competing in mixed leagues with her second husband, John. In later years, she loved to sew and read, and play bingo at the senior citizens center in Decatur. She was a member of the First Baptist Church of Decatur.

During the last 17 years of her life, she was a resident of Decatur, Texas, to which she had moved  after the death of her third husband to be closer to her beloved younger sister, Irene, who preceded her in death in 2008.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Willie Mae and Chris Shay of New Mexico; her three husbands, Lawrence Edward Carter of California, John Alvaro Schreiber of Washington, and William James Bowers of Texas; her son, Larry Ronald Carter of Washington State; two sisters, Willie Christine Dominguez of Bisbee, Arizona, and Francis Irene Willbanks of Boyd, Texas, and her stepson, Mark Bowers of Colorado.

Those left to cherish her memory are her sons, John Shay Schreiber and wife Polly of Olympia, Washington, and Donald A. Schreiber and wife Trish of Warren, Texas; two stepchildren, John Bowers and wife Debbie of Virginia, and Innis Lusk and husband Joe of Colorado; numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren; numerous loving nieces, nephews and their families who were active in her support and care in the later years of her life; particularly Susie Butler of Decatur, Danny Willbanks of Rhome, Michael Willbanks of Boyd, and Lisa Herring of Rhome; and a host of friends.

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