Mary May Melancon

Mary May Melancon went home to the Lord on January 5, 2025, passing peacefully in her sleep at the age of 96.

She was born Mary May Daugherty on April 4, 1928 in the Hotel Dieu, or “House of God” Hospital in Beaumont, Texas, to her parents Mary Belle May Daugherty and John Clifford Daugherty. Mary May was baptized in the Catholic faith 4 days later on Easter Sunday in St. Anthony Catholic Church in Beaumont.

The oldest of the Daugherty’s five children, Mary May spent her youth in Beaumont except for a few months during World War II when her father moved the family to Washington, D.C. as part of his job as head of a steel company that produced 55-gallon oil drums for the war effort. She attended St Anthony High School in Beaumont and remembers how few boys there were in her graduating class at the end of the war.

Living in the almost tropical climate of Southeast Texas was difficult for Mary May, who suffered from severe asthma. As a result she was forced to seek drier climates and attended high school for a short time in San Antonio, Texas and her first year of college at Our Lady of Victory Academy in Fort Worth, Texas. She transferred to the University of Texas in Austin where she completed her degree, majoring in English and History.

It was during her time at UT that she met and fell in love with her future husband, Henry Louis Melancon of Beaumont, also attending the University after his time overseas during the war. After graduation they were married in St Anne Catholic Church in Beaumont on September 3, 1949.

The newlyweds moved to San Antonio where Mary May took her first job as a school teacher. They soon moved to Boling, Texas where Henry was employed by Texas Gulf Sulphur Company in nearby New Gulf, a company town. Told by doctors that she would never have children and after a Novena to the Blessed Mother, her first son John Henry was born in 1952 in the company hospital in New Gulf. James was born two years later.

Always moving West to help with Mary May’s asthma, the family moved next to Midland, Texas where Mary Sharon, Joseph, and Tom were born. This was followed by a move to Hobbs, New Mexico where Martin and Stephen were born. The family was now complete.

A depressed oil-field economy forced Henry to seek other employment opportunities, and the family moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1968. When child-rearing duties lessened, Mary May began her career as a substitute teacher, working mostly at Western High School where she was in high demand as a long-term substitute. During the 70’s and the 80’s she attended classes at UNLV and graduated with a Masters Degree in Counseling in 1986.

As devoted as Mary May was to her family and friends, she considered the most important aspect of her life to be her Catholic faith. She was active in the Legion of Mary at St Ann’s in Midland, St. Helena in Hobbs, and St. Francis de Sales in Las Vegas.  She and Henry were founding parishioners of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Las Vegas where Mary May was a Lector and Eucharistic Minister. At her passing she was a member of St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church. Fulfilling her vocation as a mother, Mary May fought tirelessly for the protection of the unborn and for women in crisis pregnancies.

Mary May Melancon was preceded in death by her father and mother, her brother John and sisters Margaret Ann and Monica, and her husband Henry. She is survived by her brother Joseph, her 7 children, 20 grandchildren, and 21 great-grandchildren.

There will be a rosary and get-together at Bunkers Eden Vale Mortuary from 5 to 8 PM on Monday January 13. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 10:15 AM Tuesday, January 14 at Guardian Angel Cathedral with burial at Bunkers Memory Gardens Cemetery at 12:00 PM. A reception will follow at Our Lady of Wisdom Byzantine Catholic Church.

While Mary May loved flowers you may wish to make a donation in lieu of flowers to Living Grace Homes Women’s Shelter in Henderson, NV.