RAE FERRELL Obituary - Visitation & Funeral Information

FORT WORTH -- Rae Key Dulaney Ferrell, 90, died peacefully Sunday morning, Aug. 19, 2007, at home, surrounded by her family. Funeral: 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, 10th and Lamar streets. Committal services will be held at the grave 3:30 p.m. Wednesday in Greenwood Cemetery in Marshall. Mrs. Ferrell's grandchildren will serve as bearers of her casket. Visitation: The family will receive friends on Tuesday at the residence from 4 to 7 p.m. Memorials: In lieu of flowers, consideration of contributions in memory of Rae to the Fort Worth Academy of Fine Arts, 3901 S. Hulen St., Fort Worth 76109; or to a charity of one's choice, is suggested. Rae Key Dulaney Ferrell was born on February 11, 1917, in Marshall, Texas. At 16, in the height of the Great Depression, she matriculated at Wellesley College in Massachusetts, where she studied what she called "fun and frivolous" subjects like Latin. After graduating with top honors, she returned home to Marshall to work in her family's bank, the First National Bank of Marshall, to obtain what she considered her real education, that of one in finance. She became a brilliant investor possessing, as a friend commented, "the looks of Greta Garbo and the steely business mind of J. P. Morgan." Another added, "You could learn more about the market in one hour at her knee than in 2 years of business school." She was typically the first choice as trustee for friends and family members. She was also gregarious and a formidable, sparkling conversationalist who could make anyone laugh. How she hated to miss a party. On their first date, Rae took the man who was to be her first husband, R.O. Dulaney, Jr., on an alligator safari in Caddo Lake. After that experience he decided that no other woman would do and immediately proposed. They raised three children in Fort Worth. After his death, she married Hal Driver Ferrell of West Texas. Rae traveled the world, often accompanied by a grandchild or two in her later years. She was one of the first U.S. tourists to visit communist China. Well into her eighties she ascended Mayan ruins, chewed coca leaves in Peru and toured Pompeii. Her last gift to her grandchildren was to take them on a Russian cruise. A devoted mother and formative grandmother, she was the pillar of her family, an exemplar of social and personal grace. She will be missed so much. In addition to her parents and husbands, she was preceded in death by her daughter, Marie Key Dulaney Pullen, who died in 2005, and her son, Richard Key Dulaney, who died in 2006. Rae was a member of River Crest Country Club, where she played bridge every Wednesday with the same group of friends for decades, the Dallas Caddo Club, the Fort Worth Club, Fort Worth Garden Club, St. Monicas Guild of St. Andrews and the Womans Club of Fort Worth. Survivors: Mrs. Ferrell is survived by her daughter, Nancy Key Dulaney Goldring and Howard Kerpelman of Litchfield, Conn.; her son-in-law, Weston Carpenter Pullen III of Fort Worth; her daughter-in-law, Lyn Smith Dulaney of Fort Worth; her grandchildren, Rae Goldring and Shawna Parvin, Eden Goldring and Chris Olsen, Robert Todd Sanders, Charlotte Rae Marie Sanders and Elizabeth Murray, Steven Harvey Lord, Jr., Edmund Key Lord, Marie Dulaney Lord, Jr., Gregson Neil Pullen, Mary Louise Dulaney, Paul Richard Dulaney and Sally Virginia Dulaney; her sister, Mary Key Henley; her sister-in-law, Christiane Dulaney; and several nieces and nephews. Robertson Mueller Harper Funerals & Cremations 1500 Eighth Ave., 817-924-4233

RAE FERRELL

February 11, 1917 - August 19, 2007