Willie Fay Hatch passed away on 12 March, 2016 in Kyle, Texas at the age of 90 years. She was a member of the First Baptist Church in Kyle, TX and was a wife, mother, grandmother, and great grandmother, as well as an artist and poet. Willie was devoted to God and her family and always put them first during her lifetime, though she derived much pleasure from her artistic pursuits. She has two murals to her credit at Sunrise Baptist Church in El Paso, TX, as well as having exhibited her oil paintings at the San Antonio International Airport for a number of years. She has published numerous books of poetry. Willie, with her husband, John K. Hatch, also from Beeville, TX raised their eight children in El Paso, TX, where he was employed at the nearby White Sands Missile Range, NM. They lived in El Paso, but summered at their cabin in Cloudcroft, NM. In 1978, they returned to Beeville, TX to live on John’s ranch and to care for their aging parents, Emma Hatch, John’s mother (his father, Jim Hatch had passed away in 1955), and Martha and Barney Shows, Willie’s mother and father, all of Beeville. After Emma Hatch and both of Willie’s parents passed away, Willie purchased a home in Corpus Christi, TX and moved there in 1990 to be near her doctors. John eventually joined her there when his health also began to fail. In 2005, John moved to Georgetown, TX under the auspices of his son and by then, guardian, Tom Hatch of Round Rock, Texas. In July 2007, Willie followed John to Central Texas, purchasing a home in Plum Creek, Kyle, Texas to be near her eldest son, John Mack Hatch, and to occasionally visit her husband in nearby Georgetown. She lived there comfortably until her passing.
Willie Fay is preceded in death by her husband, John Kenneth; a son, Matthew; her parents, Barney Ernest and Martha Irene; two sisters, Lela Delia and Lucille Mae; and a brother, Ernest Jasper.
Willie Fay was survived by six sons, John Mack, Thomas Gregory, James Ernest, David Joseph, Michael Wayne, and Jeffrey Brian; two daughters, Jodie Kay Mytro and Irene Ann; four grandsons, Christopher Shawn, Tyler Garrett, John Joseph, and Matthew Mark Mytro; five granddaughters, Emily Nicole Diaz, Angela Kay Hill, Laurel Nicole, Amanda Marie Besteiro and Michelle Marie Springs; three great granddaughters, Victoria Scarlet Besteiro, Brooklyn Kay Hill and Olivia Alyse Mytro; and four great grandsons, Mason Lee and Nolan Zachary Springs, Blake Michael Hill, and Dominick Adonis Diaz.
Visitation will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. on Friday, March 18, 2016 at Galloway & Sons Funeral Home Chapel in Beeville. Funeral service will be conducted at 10 a.m. on Saturday, March 19, 2016 at Galloway & Sons Funeral Home Chapel. Interment will follow at Glenwood Cemetery, also in Beeville, Texas.
