Goldapp

Marinell Crow Goldapp was born in Austin, Texas on January 20, 1928. She passed, far too suddenly, on July 20, 2018, in the early evening, on her land. An only child, her mother passed when she was four years old and was adopted and raised by her maternal  grandparents on a large dairy farm south of Austin, near Onion Creek. Realizing milking wasn’t her calling, she began working at Southern Union Gas on S. Congress, once out of high school. In those days, post war, through mutual friends, she met her husband at The Tavern, a beloved taproom in Austin. They were married for 66 years and 9 months. She moved to Houston after her husband graduated from UT Law School and passed the Bar. She was his secretary in the early ‘50s. Business was slow enough to where cards and domino tournaments were held while waiting for the phone to ring. Things improved over time and she secured her BA in Art at the University of Houston, studying the teachings and methods of celebrated artist, then professor, William Anzalone. An attorney’s wife, she was the stabilizing force alongside of him that so grounded their lives. She was absolutely everything to him. A beautiful woman, she was so elegant with a well defined sense of decorum, taste, etiquette and polished manners about her. They created a very good existence for themselves and their two children in Houston. Farms were eventually acquired in Fayette County and their time for decades was balanced between urban and rural landscapes. They settled permanently in Fayette County in 1973. Through her adulthood, Marinell seamlessly transitioned between the two milieus. Deep in her roots, though, remained the insatiable love of the country and ranches. She thrived upon it and anything that related to sustaining it. She had an uncanny ability to diagnose (and likely, fix) malfunctions on trucks, tractors, balers, different types of machinery. She could, easily, fix fence and do so on a hot, August afternoon. She was no stranger to all sorts of tools and had sheds, barns and garages to prove it, knowing how to use all of them. She could assemble from 1000s of pieces a charcoal BBQ pit, a basketball goal, stereos, dressers and tables. She was so practical, patient, persistent and extremely stubborn, a ‘tough old bird’, if you will. Added to this list is that of expert gourmet chef, who blazed trails of glory in her kitchens, delighting and spoiling her family ROTTEN! Classic provincial French? Not a problem! Self taught, she mastered many regional techniques from around the globe. Her husband referred to her as ‘the best cook in the Western Hemisphere.’ Central Market in Austin, and others, were always highly anticipated field trips. Nature brought her joy, whether flowers and birds, both exotic and native to Texas, butterflies, trees, mountains, the travels of the moon, sunsets and the magnificent stars that lit up the night skies. Her heart was there in her summer and fall vegetable gardens, in the towering pines she had planted 45 years earlier, that were then six inches high. She had an obsession for the rocks that surrounded her and had a prodigious collection of palm wood and arrowheads. Known by a few as “boss lady,” she was very adept at managing her Angus cattle ranches, overseeing the fertilizing, spraying, dozing, shredding, hay baling, and working of the cattle, which she adored. Much of her life revolved around making things more beautiful, comfortable, efficient and, overall, better than the way she found them. She was a very good steward of God’s Earth. She was generous, believing in the good in all of us. She sincerely cared for many, whose relationships she cultivated over the decades in Fayette and Lee Counties. Of course, she was entirely smitten with her three granddaughters, having a keen interest in their well being. She loved them so dearly. She was a powerful role model, beacon of goodness and the recipient of her family’s bottomless well of love and affection for her. She was a strong-willed spirit, who believed that each of us has a mission while here. Her sphere of influence was larger than life, a true Texas lady. Her spirit, strength and beauty will be in our hearts forever. This angel that walked the Earth, was on her way Home.