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Mary (Pickett) Hamilton came into this world on October 5, 1954 in Elk City, Oklahoma. Half of the most independent set of female twins to ever put cowboy boots under first communion dresses, their parents Gertrude and Neil Anthony Pickett, Sr., instilled early into Mary a love of family and service to the community. Years later, she laughed that the stubborn independence she learned all by herself. When Mary passed this life from her childhood home on September 17, 2017, she was surrounded by the laughter and love from the family she built.
After graduating from Elk City High School in 1972, Mary packed the luggage she received as a graduation gift and enrolled in college at the Southwestern Oklahoma State University. Mary possessed a childlike enthusiasm for learning her entire life. Also like an ornery toddler, Mary rarely edited her opinions and certainly never surrendered on a task or obstacle. After her official retirement, these lessons made her the perfect administrative assistance for Elk City’s nursing school laster in life. In addition to her official paid responsibilities, she became the unofficial, unpaid folksy life coach for many students struggling to survive. Mary was an unsung hero for working moms.
Though Mary was never short on tried-and-true life advice, she wasn’t forceful or pushy with it. This art was perfected while raising her three children, all of whom inherited their own unique traits from their mother. In 1974, first son Bobby made the long-haired auburn queen a mother for the first time. Six years later, Mary gave birth to her daughter Miranda, her proxy in nearly every way — a truth that was fun to watch during her teenage years and even funnier for the two to belly laugh over later. In 1985, Mary had her final biological child, Derek, her baby.
Through the 80s, Mary was among the early employees of Innovative Technology, sometimes volunteering her time to speak with Elk City elementary students about a brand new world brought to their fingers by a magic box called the computer. She was one of few women working in Elk City’s early computer industry and encouraged both young girls and poor kids to educate themselves on the computer revolution.
The Innovative Technology Computer bug wasn’t her only favorite ‘80s accessory. She donned blue eyeliner, big hair and stonewashed Rockies better than Tanya Tucker, a look that didn’t go unnoticed by a tall Texas cowboy named James Ray Hamilton. She relished in telling the story about first seeing James, a family classic that could still make her children blush if she started on her attraction. James and Mary both agreed that they were instantly partners, a fact that remains true today. James and Mary married on June 7, 1991, becoming a second mother to James’s three daughters, Christy, Angela and Jaime. The couple, who still squeezed time for two-stepping every chance they had, raised their six children as one family. In spite of her chaotic family schedule, Mary opened and co-owned a technology business in 2000s, making her Elk City’s first female entrepreneur in technology. Frequently she said that she wasn’t sure if she was a feminist, but she sure was an “equalist.” Pressed once for the meaning of her self-definition, she explained simply that she had confidence that, so long as she was given equal opportunity, she would give at least an equal performance. She was tough and expected no hand outs, but was also the first to donate or volunteer when she spotted another’s struggle.
Mary’s many hobbies included golfing, fishing, camping but, ultimately, spending time with her grandchildren. With competitiveness a family virtue she nourished, she relished in coaching and refereeing her grandchildren’s sports. Mary was “vocally energetic” at her grandkids’ events, a term her children use to politely describe the booming encouragement she made from the stands. She played to win, but she laughed the whole way. Mary was also a proud American and committed to creating “a more perfect union,” a mission statement she helped draft when she co-created the Beckham County Coffee Party. The only thing she hated more than being late for a packed night at the Bingo house was the mistreatment of poor and working class families. Mary volunteered countless hours and donated money supporting programs that would provide relief for our working poor. She was also passionately invested into developing a voter base for the middle class in western Oklahoma. She will be forever missed among the Beckham County Democrats.
She was preceded in death by her parents, 2 brothers, Neil Anthony Pickett, Jr. and Edward Pickett, infant sister, Patricia Pickett.
She is survived by her husband, James, of the home; 6 children, Robert Rylant and wife, Amy, Moore, OK, Miranda Cummings, Elk City, OK, Derek Rylant, Elk City, OK Christy Snowder and husband, Ryan, Canute, OK, Angela Warnke and husband, Jeremy, Canute, OK and Jaime Williams, Lexington, OK; 26 grandchildren, 6 great grandchildren; twin sister, Martha Coats, Hobart, OK; brother, Mark Pickett, Elk City, OK and a host of other relatives and friends.
Services are pending with Whinery-Savage Funeral Home.
Private family services will be held at a later date.
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