Person Page - 629

     Mary Elizabeth Shuler also went by the name of Lizzie.¹ She was born on 20 August 1889 at Lee County, Virginia.² She was the daughter of Joseph Stevens Shuler and Cora Ellen Waddell.^3,4 She married Ezekial Templeton Kirkland, son of I.P. Kirkland and Laura T. Kirtley, on 7 May 1905 at Joshua, Johnson County, Texas.¹ She died on 2 December 1938 at Cleburn, Johnson County, Texas, at age 49.^1,2

     Mary Lee Shuler married Jeremiah C. Wells Jr., son of Jeremiah C. Wells Sr. and Sarah A. Unknown, on 8 August 1925 at Lee County, Virginia.¹

     Mary Polly Shuler was born circa 1829 at Grayson County, Virginia.¹ She was the daughter of George Michael Shuler and Phoebe Russell.

     Mary Polly Shuler married Adam Luellen, son of Carr Allen and Temperance Daniel. She was born circa 1829 at Virginia.^1,3 She was the daughter of Adam Shuler and Elizabeth Hall. She died on 9 June 1900 at Lee County, Virginia.

     Mary Ruth Shuler was born on 19 May 1929 at Joshua, Johnson County, Texas.^3,4 She was the daughter of Marion Cicero Shuler and Winnie L. Brooks.² She married Elmer Harvey Tiffany on 1 August 1946 at Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Texas.⁵ She and Elmer Harvey Tiffany were were living in Swift County, Minnesota in 1950. He was working as a depot agent for the Milwaukee Rail Road and she was a homemaker. The year before they had been living in Minneapolis, Minnesota.⁶ She married Thomas M. Ward on 7 July 1951 at USA.⁷ She and Thomas M. Ward were divorced on 2 February 1981 at Parker County, Texas.⁸ She married David Richard Chamberlain on 31 October 1981 at Tarrant County, Texas.^9,10 She died on 22 October 2001 at Tyler, Smith County, Texas, at age 72.^11,12


CHANDLER - Mary Ruth Arteese, 72, retired, died Monday, Oct. 22, 2001 at a Tyler hospital.
Memorial service: 1 p.m. Friday at Forest Grove Baptist Church, Hwy. 315, eight miles south of Chandler.
Mary Ruth Arteese was born May 19, 1929, in Fort Worth, where she lived until moving to Chandler six months ago.¹¹

     Matilda Shuler was born on 17 December 1855 at Grayson County, Virginia.¹ She was the daughter of Mary Polly Shuler.¹

     Maureen Emaline Shuler was born on 18 February 1853 at USA.¹ She was the daughter of Abraham Shuler and Hannah Bonaham.¹

     Maxine Shuler is the daughter of William Henry Shuler and Susie Serena Stierwalt.¹

     Melody Anne Shuler is the daughter of Calvin Stewart Shuler and Susan Denise Howard.¹ She married Scott Glenn after 2001.²

     Melvin Burnois Shuler was born on 30 October 1927 at Bonham, Fannin County, Texas.¹ He was the son of Fred Burnois Shuler and Lela Belle McCraw.¹ He married Evelyn Davis in 1968.² He died on 8 April 2007 at Bonham, Fannin County, Texas, at age 79.³

Mr Melvin B Shuler
MELVIN B. SHULER Noted developer helped lure Cowboys to Irving

Melvin B. Shuler was a pioneering Irving developer whose accomplishments included giving the city its first elevator and supporting projects that became town landmarks.

He also was among the first developers in the area to attempt planned residential development and modular housing.

Mr. Shuler, 79, died Sunday of natural causes at a veterans facility in Bonham, Texas. A memorial will be at 2 p.m. today in the Donnelly's Colonial Funeral Home chapel in Irving.

"He was always 20 years ahead of his time," said Jim Widener, a retired Irving title lawyer. "He built some houses in Irving with basements, where nobody had had basements before. He always just seemed to be looking to the future."

Mr. Shuler advocated annexing Las Colinas into Irving and helped recruit the Dallas Cowboys to the city, said his son, Mel Shuler Jr. of Dallas.

Mr. Shuler and some of his contemporaries were responsible for putting Las Colinas and Texas Stadium in Irving instead of Dallas, his son said. "Today, if you say Irving, Texas, anywhere in the country, people will know where it is," his son said.

"If it weren't for Melvin, it would never have happened," Mr. Widener said of the Cowboys' move from the Cotton Bowl to Irving.

Mr. Shuler was both a visionary real estate developer and a devoted family man, said his daughter, Janet Powell of Irving.

"He was a great father," Ms. Powell said. "He always said family was there when no one else was."

Mr. Shuler had a dry sense of humor that was sometimes corny, his daughter said.

"He wasn't afraid to dream," Ms. Powell said. "He was innovative, and sometimes he was ahead of his time."

Born in Bonham, Mr. Shuler grew up in the Sherman-Denison area, where his maternal and fraternal grandparents had farms.

He moved with his family to Dallas as a teenager and graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in 1945.

Mr. Shuler joined the Army 10 days after graduation. He trained in Colorado to serve with mountain and ski troops in preparation for a possible invasion of Japan, his family said.

After completing his military service, he returned to Dallas, where he received a bachelor's degree in marketing from Southern Methodist University in 1950.

He started his career selling insurance in Dallas and became a salesman for Mayflower Investment Co., which developed the Plymouth Park neighborhood in Irving.

In February 1957, Mr. Shuler organized Foresight Homes to build custom homes in Irving. He and his partners expanded Foresight to include divisions for residential development, land investments and modular housing.

In 1959, he was elected president of the Irving Home Builders Association. He served on the Irving Planning and Zoning Commission from 1960 to 1969.

In 1961, Mr. Shuler began construction of a medical arts center that was home to Irving's first elevator, his son said.

"It had the first elevator ever in the entire city," his son said.

"With all those buildings out in Las Colinas that are 30 stories high, the fact that he built the first one with an elevator has always fascinated me."

In 1964, Mr. Shuler broke ground on the first of five buildings he planned for his Towne Square project, a 6-acre commercial development on West Irving Boulevard.

One week later, he announced a 240-acre residential development, MbarS Acres, about two miles southwest of Grapevine. The MbarS featured a community common with horse stables and bridle paths.

Mr. Shuler's land purchases included a tract that became part of Texas Stadium.

Those 19 acres at what would soon be the intersection of several major highways seemed like the perfect place for a stadium.

He sold the property but didn't profit from the eventual land sales or stadium construction.

In 1968, he married Evelyn Davis. Mrs. Shuler died in 1992.

In addition to his son and daughter, Mr. Shuler is survived by a stepson, Ken Collins of Flower Mound; a sister, Marlene Fugate of Bonham; and 10 grandchildren.

Memorials may be made to the American Heart Association or the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network.
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Dallas Morning News, The (TX) - Thursday, April 12, 2007.²