Mary Lee Brouer Yates

Mary Lee Brouer Yates, age 72, passed from this life to life with her eternal Heavenly Father on August 21, 2021 in Georgetown, Texas. She was born on January 24, 1949 in Denison, Texas.

Mary grew up in Arlington attending Milby Road Baptist church where she began a lifelong journey of faithfulness. She had many favorite passages which reflected her great love of others as children of God. She considered a lifelong love of caring for her family and many friends to be a part of God’s calling and blessing.

After graduating with honors from Arlington High School in January of 1967, Mary attended her freshman year at Hardin-Simons University. During the summer of ’68 she served as a counselor at Falls Creek Baptist Encampment where she met another counselor who she married on her 21st birthday, January 24, 1970. After a weekend honeymoon, Mary and Charles moved to their first home to continue their studies at Baylor University. Following Charles’ graduation from Baylor, they moved to the University of North Texas where Mary graduated with honors. She was a dedicated Baylor Bear, and most proud of the Honorary ABC Degree from Baylor, Alumni By Choice.

Following a one-year career as a first-grade teacher in the Grapevine-Colleyville ISD, she chose to stay home to raise their children, Jennifer Kristin and Joshua Scott Yates. Once the children started attending school, Mary became the assistant to the Special Prosecutor in the Tarrant County District Attorney’s office. She then worked for several attorneys before being recruited as a Financial Representative with Northwestern Mutual Financial Network where she won numerous awards and honors for being the number one female representative in three of five recognized categories.

Mary and Charles were very blessed to call North Richland hills home for 45 years. They spent many of those years teaching 9th graders and later young married couples at North Richland Hills Baptist Church. After breaking a ceiling fan practicing her golf swing in the game room, Charlie convinced Mary to join him playing tennis. They won mixed doubles tournaments while she was serving as President of the Diamond Oaks Ladies Tennis Association. During those very happy years they were fortunate to develop many life-long friendships, which are still a blessing to this day.

In 2015, they signed a contract to build a new home in Georgetown to be close to their younger grandchildren. One month later Mary was diagnosed with cancer and entered a 5 ½ year battle with cancer and chemotherapy, which she fought with great faith, strength, and dignity. They moved to their new home in Georgetown in 2016 leaving a host of lifelong friends in their hometown. A new and valuable source of encouragement and support came when they walked into RockPointe Church. In their new neighborhood, Mary quickly became the ultimate hostess inviting ladies to come to the house for fellowship and games, but mostly for the wonderful friendships they developed by just being together. Many of them visited her while she volunteered at The Caring Place, which provides help for people in need in a caring way.

Mary and Charlie celebrated their 51st anniversary earlier this year. They were hoping to take their pandemic-delayed 50th anniversary Rhine River cruise later this year. During their half-century together, they loved anything outdoors, traveling to Europe with their children, as well as cruising with other couples to scuba dive in the Caribbean. Trips to Endless Summer and Great View Jamaica with special friends from Pantego Bible Church hold special memories. Whether backpacking in Big Bend, or climbing to the highest glacier in Utah, anywhere Mary and Charlie went together, was their favorite place to be.

Mary learned from her mother how to cook almost everything from scratch making her one of the best cooks around. She lovingly planned and prepared delicious suppers and holiday meals for her family. She loved engaging others in fantastic conversations. She could walk into a room full of strangers and leave knowing something important about each person. She enjoyed gardening, water aerobics with friends, and having daily phone calls from her brother Blue, precisely at 4pm. She was a beautiful lady inside and out. Even while battling cancer, she was as lovely and put together as always. Most of all Mary loved being a devoted wife, and proud mother of two, and being a loving Mimi to her 6 grandchildren and one great-granddaughter.

Mary was preceded in death by her mother and father, Mae and Snig Brouer, her brother Jerry Brouer, her sister, Judy Pesnell, and most recently her beloved daughter Jennifer Kristin Yates.

Mary is survived by her husband Charles Yates, her son Josh Yates and his wife Amber, her grandchildren Morgan Vic”Tori”a Freeman, James Gary Freeman III, Ryan Allen Lemke, Josie Monroe Yates, Lillie Hunter Yates, Cooper Wylie Yates, one great-granddaughter Violet Charli Chastain, brothers Blue Brouer and his wife Lorri, Kevin Brouer and his wife Rhonda, sister-in-law Beverly Yates Sanders, niece Susan Rae Sanders Cordell (the niece who went on their dates from her infancy), and her husband Andy, numerous nieces and nephews, and her brother by choice, Hayden Woodard.

A Celebration of Life will be held for family and friends at RockPointe Church, 1070 CR 177, Leander, Texas 78641 at 2:00pm on Saturday, September 25, 2021.

If you choose, in lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the American Cancer Society, The Caring Place, or the charity of your choice.