Dreams Come True: Ms. Mary Lee’s Book of Poems

Part 2—A Published Author At Last [Second in a series]

Our dream journey as Ms. Mary Lee Crocker Parnell continues in our plan to helping her realize her dream of becoming a published author and poet.

So many people dream of writing a book; and once it’s written, the dream is to be published. Yet, for many, it remains a dream, because the path is either convoluted or unknown to many and seems too complicated to attempt. We wanted to remove any obstacles and potential financial sources of worry, and the committee jumped into action.

That she had been waiting 36 years since writing her first poem at age 50, to just looking at a battered navy blue cardboard-covered coil binding of her life’s writings was not lost on us. The committee (Marcia Oden, dear church friend, on the left, Ms. Mary Lee’s niece, Joyce Coleman, on the right and me, behind the camera) was operating entirely independently of her knowledge to surprise her and keep her free of having to worry about financing.

The goal was to operate as a virtual nonprofit, with any funds available going back into printing more books, with the goal of sharing her message of faith in seeking God’s direction and having her prayers answered. No individual would profit personally, which makes it truly more special, thanks to the joy of giving time and talents to make an amazing lady’s dreams come true.

It might come as a surprise but Ms. Mary Lee, is legally blind, and has been for many years. The only way she can read is to use an ultra-high resolution device that gives her limited straight-ahead vision. A gift to all who know her, though, is that she never perceives herself as either blind, or impaired in any way.

In fact, when you look into her face, you see bright, dancing brown eyes, filled with a special light that reflect the spirit of faith that she has at all times around her like an aura. As you get to know her, through her poems, you will find that at any point in her journey so far, there have been sufficient setbacks, events, and losses that could easily justify an attitude of depression, and to be sure, some people have no problem finding that path when they reflect on where life’s circumstances have found them present-day.

Ms. Mary Lee is uniquely grateful for having the kind of handheld device that gives her that limited ability. It’s amazing to hear her, particularly when others younger than her have gone “on and on” about their health challenges, regaling anyone who will listen about their challenges and afflictions. Not Ms. Mary Lee: she is excited about a cutout plastic template that gives her the ability to sign her name and compose notes. Says, “The Society for the Blind is so wonderful! They found this for me so I can use it and work with it so my autographs are in a straight line!”

Ms. Mary Lee’s book did not need editing, but all the poems were handwritten in beautiful cursive style, with ink, on school notebook paper. Step one was to crank up the stereo and begin typing. Lest you think of this adorable woman as having lived a carefree life of nonstop joy, that’s not reality. Adopted as a child, Ms. Mary Lee was adopted and then raised by a single mother in rural Iola, Texas. Her mother bought the hotel and adjoining café there and that’s where they lived until she was 17 and left home to marry her first husband.

There were two loves in her life and she was fortunate to marry both of them, and she created a loving family, and yet, times were hard and she worked hard every day in places such as Amycel Mushroom plant and a chicken processing plant nearby there among many jobs she held.

Your first impression of how you’d feel about that work might not be one of joy, but in Ms. Mary Lee’s compendium, you’ll find poems of gratitude, thanking the Lord for her job there and all of the wonderful people she worked with and for.

She wrote poems of love to her family, to her beloved spouses, to the wonderful nurses and doctors who were caring for them and for her, and the genesis for all of her poetry is that she prayed to the Lord to give her a correct, right spirit in her heart. Clearly her prayers were answered, even if she didn’t write her first poem until she was 50 years old.

For publishing, the next step was to organize the poems into appropriate categories, the easiest step as specific themes emerged, and they took on a flow of their own. My next call to Rhonda, longtime friend and editing colleague, based in Rockport, TX, and she welcomed my request for formatting the manuscript for printing in a font and type size making it easy to read comfortably. Once the formatted...the book returned to Bryan, and it was time for cover design. A subcommittee met to discuss what would please Ms. Mary Lee to hold “her book” for the first time.

A Texas hill country scene seemed fitting, and Marcia said she thought a field of bluebonnets would be lovely as part of the design. Then, a crystal cross stationed in that field of bluebonnets and a true Texas sunset on the way seemed appropriate. Amber, a Bryan-based graphic designer and creative, made it happen. A final edit from me and then the journey to New Jersey and then we engaged the Book Baby team to prepare the book for printing.

Meanwhile, at home at Sand Prairie Baptist Church in North Zulch, where Ms. Mary Lee has been a longtime member, Marcia and Joyce coordinated a special event and book signing for Ms. Mary Lee (again she had no idea this was happening) and a target date was set for Sunday, June 12, 2022.

This project began on May 3, 2022, with the initial inquiry, it has to be something of a record that the books were delivered on June 7, 2022, and three of us (Marcia, Joyce, and I) traveled to the lovely nursing community where Ms. Mary Lee resides in Bryan to surprise her.

These photos are just a small indication of the sheer joy and surprise as she had no idea that she was about to have her dream come true—holding copies of her published poems in her hands. There was another miracle present in that all of that work, from w handwritten poems to finished volume in a calendar month, essentially, is unheard of in publishing circles. Every person involved in the process had been available instantly to fulfill their part in the process without any delay.

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On book-signing Sunday, June 12, 2022, a crowd filled the fellowship hall of Sand Prairie Baptist Church, where church members and friends who’d traveled to North Zulch for the event filled the place with great cheer. Ms. Mary Lee was absolutely delighted to see friends, a few of whom had driven over 200 miles to be there for her special day. Two hours later, our newly published poet was in a happy kind of reverie as she reflected on the surreal nature of the day. div class="separator" style="clear: both;">

As Christmas 2022 approached, we’d run out of books and ordered a new print run to fill new requests. Another surprise was around the corner when one Sunday morning in June 2023, Ms. Mary Lee excitedly told Marcia that she’d just discovered a small suitcase among things on a closet shelf. Turns out another 75 poems were unearthed, and they were not part of our previously published volume.

By March 27, 2024, the first run of Volume 2 of “Down Through the Years in Poetry” was delivered. Friends and fellow church members were almost as delighted as Ms. Mary Lee to have more poems of faith, family, and love of home that she captures so well. With titles including “God’s Final Call,” “Drifting Towards Heaven’s Open Door,” “Honors to you — The Red Zone Gang” and more, the words that flowed through the ink pen of Ms. Mary Lee are all a gift to her from God, she reminds us.

You might think that might be the end of the story, a quiet little run of joy and some reorders of some sweet octogenarian’s faith-based poems. And everyone lives happily ever after. But that was not to be the last words about Ms. Mary Lee or her poetry.

Enter the Sharboneau family and their moving vans coming over from Austin’s luxurious hills and heights to the rural flatland of the loving community of Iola to reprioritize their lives. And they were blessed on their journey to meet a perfect Texas troubadour along the road…only in Texas you might say. Actually, it’s “Only in Iola” that our story continues for Ms. Mary Lee. You’re going to want to watch this promising new original documentary series, which premieres today, May 9, and it is currently available on the channel on demand, running 43 minutes long.

Ms. Mary Lee, her life and her poetry are a key feature of the premiere episode, titled “The Matriarchs.” Her world became even more exciting when she and several of her friends from Sand Prairie Baptist Church were special guests for the “Only in Iola” launch party that took place on Saturday, May 4.

[Next up: Photos and story about the Sharboneau’s Grand Launch Party in our feature, “From Bryan to Iola with a small detour through Hollywood.”]

A Journey of Faith in Verse with Ms. Mary Lee Crocker Parnell

[Extraordinary People Doing Amazing Things Series]

Today marks a two-year spiritual journey that began for me, unplanned and unaware, thanks to some dynamic women of Texas, all led in prayer to make the dreams of an 86-yr-old woman come true. This is one, of many, stories that focus on an inimitable source of joy, Ms. Mary Lee Crocker Parnell. I am proud to be learning from several in her orbit who pioneered a path before me. With their faith, outlook, reliance on God, and their discipline to a positive attitude, they have much to teach me, and fortunately also the patience to hang in there with me until I model it comfortably.

The outcome is a spirit of gratitude and sense of awe at the “you’re not going to believe this,” but it is all true. For three years, I’d lamented the loss of a place of worship that had transfigured itself to the wishes of a powerful few. I had resigned membership in a denomination that had been home base for me for over 20 years. I searched for a new journey where I hoped I might use any relevant gifts and talents I might have for a higher power and a greater good, no labels required.

It was like any other morning. I’d parked my steaming cup of coffee on my desk, scrolling through the morning e-mail batches, I discovered one from my longtime friend and colleague, Ann (also my neighbor two blocks over), referring to me an inquiry in case I had time and interest. Generally, it was helping a woman get her collection of poems published as a book.

I’d been doing this kind of work for 15 years, so I read on. The e-mail she forwarded was from Maia Joy, a seasoned author and composer in her own right who lives in Virginia. She’d searched an online database of Texas professional editors and found Ann living in the same zip code as the poet. It was Maia’s mom, Marcia, from North Zulch, who had been telling her daughter about this amazing woman and her poetry, urging, “Other people must read what Ms. Mary Lee has written. It is truly special and will be a blessing to others.” Did Ann have time and room in her schedule to take on the project? Ann was already booked up, but she offered to refer me and forwarded the e-mail.

I asked Maia for more details; that afternoon I was on the phone with Marcia. She shared that on an earlier Sunday morning in 2022, she had joined her pewmate, Ms. Mary Lee Crocker Parnell, who had arrived at Sand Prairie Baptist Church with a 1-inch worn coil-bound book with at least 100 poems. Ms. Mary Lee confided in Marcia how she had truly longed for her poems to be bound and published. Marcia casually thumbed through them and was inspired to want to help her friend realize her dream. Without indicating her next step, Marcia reached out to her daughter.

We agreed to meet the following week in Normangee, TX. From North Zulch, TX, to Virginia, to Bryan, down two blocks, on up to Normangee, and back to Bryan, the worn blue binding holding Ms. Mary Lee’s precious poems had at last arrived.

Our 86-year-old poet, Marcia shared, had not written one poem in her life until the age of 50. She said the Lord gave her each of these poems and instructed her to memorize them all because there might come a day when she could not see them to read them without a large, complex reading aide. That day would ultimately arrive.

One by one, her beautiful classic handwritten poems showcased her memories in verse. One poem was of gratitude for her mother, another for her son, and yet another was for her job at a rural mushroom process plant, a most repugnant odor follows you everywhere. Imagine the level of humility with which a woman of genuine grace and appreciation for all of God’s blessings writes a tribute to her boss in a mushroom factory?

That lunch and discussion with Marcia was truly inspirational, and immediately I agreed that it would be my new publishing project. It is the beginning of the beautiful story and what has now become a fellowship of at least four women who are united in sharing good news, faith, and beautiful, uplifting verse to inspire others to hold onto their faith, especially when they least have anything left to give, or so they think. Even if you wait 36 years, never give up on your dreams. We decided to keep our endeavor a surprise from Ms. Mary Lee until we could hand her a finished book to have and hold.

Today our country celebrates a National Day of Prayer. No matter your denomination—if you belong to one—it is refreshing to join with strangers in prayer to a higher power, to give thanks for the blessings we have or to ask for guidance and support as we set forth to create and meet goals that may promise success but guarantee taking a chance and possibly upsetting status quo.

[Next up: The journey continues with Ms. Mary Lee and her manuscript as “Down Through the Years in Poetry” becomes a reality.