Mary Frances Chadderdon
1916-1992

Mary Frances Chadderdon, known to all her friends as M.F., passed away in Kerrville, Texas on November 5, 1992. A memorial service was held in that city on November 15, attended by several members of the Southern Texas Archaeological Association (STAA).

M.F. was born in Delaware, Oklahoma on August 4, 1916, the daughter of Clarence C. Reid and Laura Jonas Reid. She graduated from Seminole (OK) High School and in 1937 received a BS degree in Education from the University of Oklahoma. She later married Jack Chadderdon and they had two children, a son, Jim, and daughter, Marty. M.F. lived in Houston for a number of years, and trained as a potter at the Museum of Fine Arts. She moved to Kerrville in 1971 and operated the Potter's Wheel, a studio and shop until 1973.

In 1973, M.F. moved to San Antonio and entered The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) in September, to pursue the study of archaeology. In December of that year, she was a founding member of the STAA, and served as its Treasurer from 1974-1977. She was involved in a number of field projects, including the first UTSA summer field school at Chaparrosa Ranch (1974), as a staff member at Baker Cave (1976), the UTSA St. Mary's Hall field school (1977), and in 1979 and 1980, at the Maya site of Colha, Belize.

At UTSA, M.F. became the first, in 1981, to receive an MA degree in the archaeology program. Her thesis was a synthesis of the 1976 Baker Cave excavations; published in 1983, it remains a key reference in lower Pecos archaeology. M.F. helped set up the Archaeology Laboratory at the UTSA Center for Archaeological Research, putting together its filing system for site records and collections. She had many friends among her fellow archaeologists at the Center, entertaining us on New Year's Day with bowl-game extravaganzas-especially if OU was playing.

M.F. moved back to Kerrville in 1986. She had recently served as president of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Kerrville.

The announcement of M.F. 's death was accompanied by a photograph of her which T. C. Hill, Jr. described best: ".. .an excellent color photo of my old buddy wearing that blue jacket.. .short haircut with the wind blowing it around, and a 'mean grin' like she was saying 'let's go raise some hell.'

Her friends in archaeology will greatly miss M.F. and her enthusiastic embrace of life.