Miriam Schmidt Secrest

Round Rock, Texas  Miriam Schmidt Secrest, 91, of Round Rock, formerly of Pampa, went to her heavenly home on Friday, March 28, 2014 in Round Rock.  Graveside services will be at 1:00 PM Wednesday, April 2, 2014, at Fairview Cemetery in Pampa with military honors accorded by the U. S. Navy.  A celebration of her life will be held at 2:00 PM Wednesday at the First Presbyterian Church in Pampa with Rev. Jim Friedewald, pastor, officiating. A reception will follow the service in the church parlor. Arrangements are by Carmichael-Whatley Funeral Directors of Pampa.  Mrs. Secrest was born Miriam Mathilde Esther Schmidt on July 16, 1922, in Merrill, Wisconsin, to Rev. Max M. and Alma Roloff Schmidt. She graduated from Merrill High School and attended a business college in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She served as a WAVE in the U. S. Navy during World War II. After marrying Newt Secrest on January 1, 1947, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, they moved to Pampa in 1951, where she made her home until moving to Round Rock in 2008.  Known affectionately as “Mim,” she was a devoted homemaker and mother, serving as homeroom mother, Girl Scout leader, and softball coach. She was also secretary and bookkeeper for Newt Secrest Insurance. Mim was a lifetime and charter member of the Pampa Opti-Mrs. Club in which she served as every officer and helped start the girls’ softball program in Pampa. Mim’s faith was very important to her, and she served the First Presbyterian Church in many capacities during her time in Pampa. Survivors include her three daughters, Renee Steele and husband Mark of Gladewater, Becky Secrest and husband John Bouley of Bethel, Maine, and Stephanie Hazlewood and husband Chuck of Round Rock; a stepson, Richard Secrest and wife Donna of Salem, Oregon; seven grandchildren, seven great grandchildren, and a host of other relatives. She was preceded in death by her husband, Newt, in 2006, her parents, and by three brothers and two sisters.  In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorials may be made to the First Presbyterian Church Book of Remembrance, 525 N. Gray, Pampa, TX 79065 or the Pampa Opti-Mrs. Scholarship Fund, P. O. Box 802, Pampa, TX 79066-0802.