Maybelle Tanner, age 97, went to be with the Lord on Wednesday, June 17, 2015. Born on the family ranch near Ebony, TX on Nov 2, 1917, Maybelle was one of nine children born to Thomas W. Perkins and Nita Leigh Jones. On her mother's side, she was descended from Jesse Pearce Hanna and Andrew Jackson Jones, some of the first pioneer families of the Regency area of Brown County (later Mills County). Growing up, she attended Honea Ranch School, often riding a horse to the one-room schoolhouse. Following graduation from Indian Creek High School in 1934, she entered Daniel Baker College in Brownwood at age 16. Graduating from college three years later (1937), she taught school in Novice, TX and later near Weatherford. Maybelle went on to do graduate work at Texas Tech and TCU. During World War II, she enlisted in the Women's Auxiliary (later the Women's Army Corp). She served at William Beaumont Hospital in El Paso, helping with injured soldiers returning from the war. It was there she met and fell in love with William Lloyd Tanner (stationed with the Army at Ft. Bliss). When the war ended, they were married on July 4, 1946. After the war, the couple settled briefly in Claremore, OK, then relocated to Ft. Worth, and finally moved to Abilene in 1955, where Lloyd opened the office for Prudential Insurance Company. Three children were born to this couple. The first (William "Billy") passed away in 1950, but two more children, Paul and Marlene, were born to them, both of whom graduated from high school in Abilene before going off to college. Lloyd and Maybelle joined the First Christian Church in 1955, and were faithful members the remainder of their lives. Maybelle also taught in the Abilene public schools, and was a Pink Lady at Hendricks. Following Lloyd's retirement from Prudential, they owned and operated Abilene Big Country Insurance Co. until his death in 1992. Maybelle was active for many years in Bible Study Fellowship. In the final few years of her life she resided at Wesley Court Retirement Community, where she was well cared for. She will be remembered there as the sweet little lady who cut roses and placed them on the dining tables for all her friends to enjoy. Maybelle Tanner is survived by a sister, Florence Boatright of Florida, son Dr. J. Paul Tanner of Bullard, TX (his wife Linda), and daughter, Marlene Tanner Isbell of Houston (and her husband, Howard P. Isbell). She has four grandchildren: Brook Tanner, Brandon Cole Tanner, Christan Leigh Isbell, and Matthew Pearce Isbell, and many nephews and nieces. Service will be Sunday at 2pm at First Christian Church, Abilene.Burial will be at Greanleaf Cemetery, Brownwood, Texas.