Marion Vance

Marion Lucille Brieger Vance, 94, died on Friday, Feb. 12, 2016. She was born on Aug. 22, 1921, the only child of Lydia Elizabeth Goetz Brieger and Alfred Charles Brieger of Runge.

Marion graduated from Runge High School and attended Trinity University in San Antonio and Texas State University in San Marcos, graduating with a BA degree in music. She was the choir and band director at Sanderson High School in Sanderson, Texas but was offered a job in Victoria after the war. One afternoon, as the story goes, a girlfriend asked Marion to accompany her on a drive to Edna. 

In the meantime, Captain John T. Vance, Jr., had returned from the war in Europe, had finished his engineering degree from the University of Texas, and had established the City Chevrolet Dealership in Edna. He rolled out from under an automobile and spotted Marion Brieger. They were married Feb. 2, 1947. Marion raised four children, and was active in the community and the Presbyterian Church, as the youth choir director and the first woman elder. She was also a 50-year member of the Order of the Eastern Star and served as an officer, and president. John T. died in Sept. 2003, and they are survived by their four children; Judy Vance Westhoff and husband Gus of Edna, Betty Vance Ronga and husband Gerald of Lealander, John T. Vance, III and wife Elizabeth of Bay City, and Mary Lou Vance and fiance' Daniel Rizzo of Houston. They have nine grandchildren, Elizabeth Westhoff Simons and husband Travis, Catherine Westhoff Chaessher and husband Reagan, Anna Westhoff Pack and husband Sam, Thomas O. Murphey III, Adelaide L. Murphey, Sara Ronga Trumet, Lindsay Ronga Yeager and husband Eric, Leigh Vance Banaszak and husband John, John Cullen Vance, and eight great-grandchildren, West Simons, Kate Simons, Cavern Trumet, Callaway Chessher and Mirabai Ronga, Marion Banaszak, Brieger Pack, and Maraea Yeager.

Thank you Mother, for being such a wonderful example for all of us!

The family will have a private family service at a later date. 

The family suggests memorial contributions be sent to the Edna Presbyterian Church.

Services are entrusted to Russell Todish of the Slavik Funeral Home, 209 N. Allen St., Edna, 361-782-2152.