Annie Sue Neely

Annie “Sue” McCarty Neely

Annie “Sue” McCarty Neely passed away on Wednesday, December 23, 2020, at the age of 95.  She was born in Marshall, Texas on November 26, 1925, to Guy Hartley and Viney Taylor McCarty.  Sue was raised by her aunt, Maude McCarty “Mammy” Cadenhead after her mother died when she was 6 months old.  Sue attended Marshall public schools and then received her nursing degree from John Sealy College of Nursing in 1946.  Sue worked in the pediatric ward at John Sealy Hospital in Galveston after graduation where she triaged and treated victims of the Texas City Refinery explosion in 1947.  While working in Student Health for the University of Texas Medical School in 1949, Sue met her future husband, Winston Neely, on a blind date.  After a long-distance relationship, Winston proposed to Sue while he was in Korea during the war.  He asked her and Mammy to come out to San Francisco to meet the troopship when it returned to the States in early 1953 so they could get married.  Sue went to the West Coast to wait for Winston’s return but it took 2 months for the ship to come in!  Immediately after arrival, the couple embarked on a train, stopped in Reno, Nevada to get married at the Methodist Church, and then made their way back to Bellville to set up housekeeping.  But not before a brief stint at Fort Sill in Lawton, Oklahoma where Winston had to finish his commission in the Army.  The house they built on Oak Street became home for 63 years before Sue moved to Cypress in 2018.

Mrs. Neely enjoyed working on church and community projects in Bellville while raising her two children. She was very active in the Boy and Girl Scouts organizations, serving as a Cub Scout den mother for many years and as a nurse during Girl Scout campouts.  When the kids were in the high school band, Sue became active in the Brahma Band Booster Club.  Her specialty was making chili for the Band Boosters’ Friday night concession stand.  During Vacation Bible School in the summer, she was in charge of snack time and it is rumored that she invented the Ritz Cracker Peanut Butter sandwich cookie.  “Granny’s” cooking skills were revered by her family, especially her prowess for making cornbread dressing.  That recipe is often replicated/attempted and has traveled as far as London, England to a homesick Texas friend.

Travelling, especially RV-ing was another passion of Sue’s.  The family clocked many miles in their camping trailers between Canada and Mexico and the East and West coasts of the United States.  Many of these trips were shared with their dear friends, the Charpiot family.  After the kids graduated from high school, the couple traveled extensively overseas to Europe, Egypt, and Russia.

Mrs. Neely is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Catherine and Mark Ellis of Cypress, her daughter-in-law, Karen Neely of Bryan, her four grandchildren, Amy Nabors and husband Clint, Katie Dufour and husband Michael, LeeAnn Broeker and husband Adam, John Neely and wife Kelly, along with her great-grandchildren Claire, Winston and Ava Kate Nabors, Frances and Parker Ann Dufour and Jackson Neely.  She is preceded in death by her husband, Dr. Winston B. Neely, her son, Dr. Jack B. Neely, her granddaughter, Laura Beth Neely, and her great-grandson, James Nabors.

In lieu of flowers, friends who wish may make memorial gifts to either:

Bellville United Methodist Church
P.O. Box 188
Bellville, Texas 77418,


Bellville Public Library
12 West Palm
Bellville, Texas 77418

or to the

Bellville Hospital Foundation
P.O. Box 55
Bellville, Texas 77418