Pearl Ora Jennings and Walter Lafayette (Walt) McDonald were married April 21, 1904 in Seven Rivers, Eddy County, New Mexico.
(Ref: THE DAILY CURRENT-ARGUS, Carlsbad, Eddy County, New Mexico, dated for Wednesday, March 28, 1951, front page, reads as follows:
MRS. WALTER McDONALD DIES;
WELL-KNOWN PIONEER IN COUNTY
Mrs. Walter McDonald, well-known pioneer of Eddy County, died this morning in her home at 304 North Mesquite. She had been ill for some time.
Born Pearl Ora Jennings near Lakewood Aug. 21, 1887, Mrs. McDonald's parents were early Eddy County settlers, coming to Seven Rivers from Texas in 1881.
In April, 1904, she married Walter L. McDonald, who died in 1949. They had lived in Carlsbad since 1922.
Mrs. McDonald was Eddy County jailer from 1929 to 1932, during her husband's term as sheriff, and from 1939 to 1942 when her son-in-law, Howell Gage, was sheriff.
PENITENTIARY MATRON
As matron of the state penitentiary in Santa Fe from 1943 to Dec. 31, 1950, she became one of the best-loved women in New Mexico.
Her inmates affectionately knew her as "Mother Mac," and she presented each new ward a Bible.
One woman prisoner, released after serving four months of her one-year sentence in the penitentiary, was asked if she were glad to go home. She answered "No, I'd rather go back to Mother Mac."
When Mrs. McDonald became ill in 1949, Marcus Griffin, in his Tucumcari newspaper column, called her "a woman of indomintable strength and who best exemplifies the often abused term "Christian virtues."
Griffin pointed out that "Mrs. McDonald has run her section of the penitentiary without racial, religious or political favoritism and the women under her charge...love her as a mother, do not regard her as a warden or keeper."
DEVOTED CHURCH MEMBER
Of her modesty, Griffin said "She is the last person who would consider herself an example of model Christianity. While she is a devoted church member, we doubt if she considers herself in any other light than a friend and neighbor."
Mrs. McDonald is survived by three daughters, Mrs. Howell Gage of Albuquerque, Mrs. Charles R. Black of Albuquerque and Mrs. Joe Highsmith of Santa Fe, and one granddaughter, Betty Jo Highsmith of Santa Fe.
The funeral has been tentatively scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Friday in the Church of Christ, with O.H. Tabor officiating. Burial will be in Carlsbad Cemetery. The body will lie in state at West Funeral Home until funeral services.
(Ref: THE DAILY CURRENT-ARGUS, Carlsbad, Eddy County, New Mexico, dated for Wednesday, March 28, 1951, front page, reads as follows:
MRS. WALTER McDONALD DIES;
WELL-KNOWN PIONEER IN COUNTY
Mrs. Walter McDonald, well-known pioneer of Eddy County, died this morning in her home at 304 North Mesquite. She had been ill for some time.
Born Pearl Ora Jennings near Lakewood Aug. 21, 1887, Mrs. McDonald's parents were early Eddy County settlers, coming to Seven Rivers from Texas in 1881.
In April, 1904, she married Walter L. McDonald, who died in 1949. They had lived in Carlsbad since 1922.
Mrs. McDonald was Eddy County jailer from 1929 to 1932, during her husband's term as sheriff, and from 1939 to 1942 when her son-in-law, Howell Gage, was sheriff.
PENITENTIARY MATRON
As matron of the state penitentiary in Santa Fe from 1943 to Dec. 31, 1950, she became one of the best-loved women in New Mexico.
Her inmates affectionately knew her as "Mother Mac," and she presented each new ward a Bible.
One woman prisoner, released after serving four months of her one-year sentence in the penitentiary, was asked if she were glad to go home. She answered "No, I'd rather go back to Mother Mac."
When Mrs. McDonald became ill in 1949, Marcus Griffin, in his Tucumcari newspaper column, called her "a woman of indomintable strength and who best exemplifies the often abused term "Christian virtues."
Griffin pointed out that "Mrs. McDonald has run her section of the penitentiary without racial, religious or political favoritism and the women under her charge...love her as a mother, do not regard her as a warden or keeper."
DEVOTED CHURCH MEMBER
Of her modesty, Griffin said "She is the last person who would consider herself an example of model Christianity. While she is a devoted church member, we doubt if she considers herself in any other light than a friend and neighbor."
Mrs. McDonald is survived by three daughters, Mrs. Howell Gage of Albuquerque, Mrs. Charles R. Black of Albuquerque and Mrs. Joe Highsmith of Santa Fe, and one granddaughter, Betty Jo Highsmith of Santa Fe.
The funeral has been tentatively scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Friday in the Church of Christ, with O.H. Tabor officiating. Burial will be in Carlsbad Cemetery. The body will lie in state at West Funeral Home until funeral services.
Pearl Ora Jennings and Walter Lafayette (Walt) McDonald were married April 21, 1904 in Seven Rivers, Eddy County, New Mexico.
(Ref: THE DAILY CURRENT-ARGUS, Carlsbad, Eddy County, New Mexico, dated for Wednesday, March 28, 1951, front page, reads as follows:
MRS. WALTER McDONALD DIES;
WELL-KNOWN PIONEER IN COUNTY
Mrs. Walter McDonald, well-known pioneer of Eddy County, died this morning in her home at 304 North Mesquite. She had been ill for some time.
Born Pearl Ora Jennings near Lakewood Aug. 21, 1887, Mrs. McDonald's parents were early Eddy County settlers, coming to Seven Rivers from Texas in 1881.
In April, 1904, she married Walter L. McDonald, who died in 1949. They had lived in Carlsbad since 1922.
Mrs. McDonald was Eddy County jailer from 1929 to 1932, during her husband's term as sheriff, and from 1939 to 1942 when her son-in-law, Howell Gage, was sheriff.
PENITENTIARY MATRON
As matron of the state penitentiary in Santa Fe from 1943 to Dec. 31, 1950, she became one of the best-loved women in New Mexico.
Her inmates affectionately knew her as "Mother Mac," and she presented each new ward a Bible.
One woman prisoner, released after serving four months of her one-year sentence in the penitentiary, was asked if she were glad to go home. She answered "No, I'd rather go back to Mother Mac."
When Mrs. McDonald became ill in 1949, Marcus Griffin, in his Tucumcari newspaper column, called her "a woman of indomintable strength and who best exemplifies the often abused term "Christian virtues."
Griffin pointed out that "Mrs. McDonald has run her section of the penitentiary without racial, religious or political favoritism and the women under her charge...love her as a mother, do not regard her as a warden or keeper."
DEVOTED CHURCH MEMBER
Of her modesty, Griffin said "She is the last person who would consider herself an example of model Christianity. While she is a devoted church member, we doubt if she considers herself in any other light than a friend and neighbor."
Mrs. McDonald is survived by three daughters, Mrs. Howell Gage of Albuquerque, Mrs. Charles R. Black of Albuquerque and Mrs. Joe Highsmith of Santa Fe, and one granddaughter, Betty Jo Highsmith of Santa Fe.
The funeral has been tentatively scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Friday in the Church of Christ, with O.H. Tabor officiating. Burial will be in Carlsbad Cemetery. The body will lie in state at West Funeral Home until funeral services.
(Ref: THE DAILY CURRENT-ARGUS, Carlsbad, Eddy County, New Mexico, dated for Wednesday, March 28, 1951, front page, reads as follows:
MRS. WALTER McDONALD DIES;
WELL-KNOWN PIONEER IN COUNTY
Mrs. Walter McDonald, well-known pioneer of Eddy County, died this morning in her home at 304 North Mesquite. She had been ill for some time.
Born Pearl Ora Jennings near Lakewood Aug. 21, 1887, Mrs. McDonald's parents were early Eddy County settlers, coming to Seven Rivers from Texas in 1881.
In April, 1904, she married Walter L. McDonald, who died in 1949. They had lived in Carlsbad since 1922.
Mrs. McDonald was Eddy County jailer from 1929 to 1932, during her husband's term as sheriff, and from 1939 to 1942 when her son-in-law, Howell Gage, was sheriff.
PENITENTIARY MATRON
As matron of the state penitentiary in Santa Fe from 1943 to Dec. 31, 1950, she became one of the best-loved women in New Mexico.
Her inmates affectionately knew her as "Mother Mac," and she presented each new ward a Bible.
One woman prisoner, released after serving four months of her one-year sentence in the penitentiary, was asked if she were glad to go home. She answered "No, I'd rather go back to Mother Mac."
When Mrs. McDonald became ill in 1949, Marcus Griffin, in his Tucumcari newspaper column, called her "a woman of indomintable strength and who best exemplifies the often abused term "Christian virtues."
Griffin pointed out that "Mrs. McDonald has run her section of the penitentiary without racial, religious or political favoritism and the women under her charge...love her as a mother, do not regard her as a warden or keeper."
DEVOTED CHURCH MEMBER
Of her modesty, Griffin said "She is the last person who would consider herself an example of model Christianity. While she is a devoted church member, we doubt if she considers herself in any other light than a friend and neighbor."
Mrs. McDonald is survived by three daughters, Mrs. Howell Gage of Albuquerque, Mrs. Charles R. Black of Albuquerque and Mrs. Joe Highsmith of Santa Fe, and one granddaughter, Betty Jo Highsmith of Santa Fe.
The funeral has been tentatively scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Friday in the Church of Christ, with O.H. Tabor officiating. Burial will be in Carlsbad Cemetery. The body will lie in state at West Funeral Home until funeral services.
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