Mama Lucille enjoys a glass of champagne while watching a Dallas Cowboys game and wearing some of her Cowboys gear.

Many of you already know that my grandmother, Mama Lucille, passed away a week ago Friday, just a couple of months shy of her 100th birthday. She was the biggest Cowboys fan I know. The friends I’ve had over for Thanksgiving dinner will never forget her yelling “DEFENSE!” at the TV while we tried to eat our desserts. I just received this note from my father, and I decided to share:

My brother Jerry and Nancy Hobbs had an only son who was the shining star and the brightest hope of the Hobbs clan. Martin was outgoing, athletic, and full of energy. His grandmother Lucille and grandfather Wesley loved him dearly and spent many hours doing grandma/grandpa things with him and his little sister Shannon.

In 1979, when Martin was fourteen years old, he came down with leukemia and had to spend weeks in the cancer care center in Dallas. Lucille was right there with him most every day wearing the bio-protective suit so they would let her in Martin’s hospital room. Some of the Dallas Cowboys were regular visitors. Roger Staubach, Charlie Waters, and Hollywood Henderson got to be Martin’s big buddies. And that’s when Lucille got to be such a big Cowboy fan. Hollywood was the most frequent visitor! This might have been before his problems with heroin.

Martin’s cancer went into remission for two or three sunny years but the cancer came back and he did not survive the second episode. The loss of Martin deeply affected all those close to him.

Hollywood Henderson got his head on straight, won the lottery twice, and built a big sports center for kids in Austin.

Mama Lucille became a loyal Dallas Cowboy fan and tried very hard not to miss a single Cowboy game and she would watch other teams just to see how the Cowboys might be affected. She never bothered to watch any other sport except figure skating.

Mama Lucille had a stroke Thursday evening, and died Friday morning August 8, 2008, almost certainly without ever regaining consciousness. She was ninety-nine years old and it was just the way she wanted to go.

She wanted a closed-casket funeral, but some of us family peeked in and she looked great in her navy blue Dallas Cowboy tee shirt.

Thanks everyone for your prayers and concern. God bless you and keep you.