Marialice Shary Shivers

SHIVERS, MARIALICE SHARY (1910 ~ 1996). Marialice Shary Shivers, wife of Governor Robert Allan Shivers, was born on January 2, 1910, to to Charles and Anne O'Brien Roettele. John H. Shary and Mary O'Brien Shary of Omaha, Nebraska adopted Marialice Shary when she moved to Texas as a teenager. John and Mary Shary were Marialice Shary's uncle and aunt. She attended schools in Omaha and Texas. She graduated from Our Lady of the Lake College in San Antonio.

Marialice Shary and Robert Allan Shivers were married on October 5, 1937 in Mission, Texas. Although politics was not her chosen profession, she selflessly supported her husband's political career as a State Senator, Lieutentant Governor, and Governor of Texas. She is remembered as one of Texas' most gracious First Ladies.

From 1965-1978, Marialice Shivers was a member and chairman of the Board of Regents Pan American University (now U.T.-Pan American) in Edinburg, Texas. She was a founder of the Seton Development Board in Austin, instrumental in supporting Seton's Regional Neonatal Center which was named for her. She was also involved with The University of Texas, the Shivers Cancer Center, The Allan Shivers Library and Museum in Woodville, Texas, The Allan Shivers Park at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital in Dallas, and the Sharyland Independent School District's Scholarship Program. The Marialice Shary Shivers Administration Building at the University of Texas-Pan American was named for her in 1990. She was named one of Austin's Outstanding Women in 1980. In 1969, Our Lady of the Lake University named her a Distinguished Alumnae and she was recognized as Austin's Mother of the Year. Marialice Shivers also served on the boards of Laguna Gloria Art Museum and the Hidalgo County Historical Museum in Edinburg.

She died on September 29, 1996 after a lengthy illness and was buried beside her husband, former Governer Allan Shivers, at the Texas State Cemetery.

Biography taken from Austin American-Statesman, September 30, 1996.