| Name |
Victoria Joy Mabie |
| Birth |
7 Dec 1920 |
Roswell, Chaves County, New Mexico  [1, 2] |
| Gender |
Female |
| Census |
9 Apr 1940 |
2480 W Estes Avenue, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois [3] |
- Milton J Mabie, Head, M, W, 39, M, completed 4 years high school, born in Iowa, Artist, Radio Broadcasting, wages earned in 1939 - $5000+ for 26 weeks
Louise M Mabie, Wife, F, W, 37, M, completed 4 years high school, born in Texas, Artist, Radio Broadcasting, wages earned in 1939 - $5000+ for 26 weeks
Joy Mabie, Daughter, F, W, 19, S, attended school, completed 3 years college, born in New Mexico
|
| Census |
2 May 1950 |
209 W Alameda, Roswell, Chaves County, New Mexico [4] |
- Joy Mabie, Head, White, Female, 28, Divorced, born in New Mexico, Owns and operates Art and Gift Shop
Vickie Mayfield, Daughter, White, Female, 4, never married, born in New Mexico
|
| Witness-Obituary |
4 Oct 1973 |
El Paso, Texas [5] |
- Milton J Mabie, a well known southwestern show business entertainer, died Saturday in Roswell NM. Mr Mabie was 73.
He and his wife were associated in the entertainment world with "Louise Massey and the Westerners." She wrote the song "My Adobe Hacienda." Over the 19 years they were in the entertainment field, the couple often lived or visited in El Paso.
Mr Mabie retired in 1942 and built a ranch near Ruidoso. He is survived by his wife Louise, of Roswell; a daughter, Mrs Joy Runion of San Angelo, Texas; and a granddaughter, Mrs Roger Spain of El Paso
Funeral services and burial were in Roswell.
|
| Witness-Obituary |
25 Jun 1983 |
El Paso, Texas [6] |
- Singer Louise Massey Mabie, whose music career spanned more than three decades and included the popular "In My Adobe Hacienda" was buried in Roswell Friday.
Mrs Mabie died Monday in San Angelo, Texas. She was 80.
During a career that began in Roswell in 1918 and ended in 1950 when she and her husband, Milt, retired to their adobe hacienda in Hondo Valley, sales of her records were in the millions.
To her public, she was Louise Massey, performer of western and pop songs.
Her biggest hit was "In My Adobe Hacienda," which she wrote in the late 1940s.
She had become a top star nationally in 1934 with her recording of "When the White Azaleas Are Blooming" which sold 3 million copies.
Mrs Mabie's group, "Louise Massey and the Westerners," was one of the few western groups to perform in the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York.
Mrs. Mabie was born in 1902 to a ranching family in Midland, Texas. The family moved to a ranch in the Hondo Valley west of Roswell in 1914.
She, her husband, who died in 1973, her father and two brothers formed a band in 1918 and began performing in the area.
The group auditioned for a traveling music show, the Red Path Chataqua, in 1928 and was signed for a two-year tour of Canada and the United States.
In 1930, it was on to a five-year contract with CBS Radio in Kansas City. She and her band next joined the WLS National Barn Dance, a highly popular radio show of that time.
In 1938, she started recording and singing for NBC Radio programs in New York City.
After 10 years in New York, she and her husband decided they wanted to retire and returned to the Hondo Valley near Roswell.
During her retirement, Mrs Mabie prepared an oral history of tape recordings for the Chaves County Historical Museum's archives. A copy of the tape recording is in the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.
She is survived by her daughter, Joy Runion, who lives in San Angelo.Victoria Louise "Murnie" Mabie; successful singer and songwriter; author of "In My Adobe Hacienda"; toured the U.S. and Canada with her country band, "The Westerner's"
Born Victoria Louise Massey in Midland, Texas, the daughter of Henry Massey.
In 1918, when she was 16, she formed The Massey Family Band with her father and two brothers, Curt and Allen.
In 1919 she married bassist Milt Mabie and the name was changed to Louise Massey and The Westerners. In 1930 they signed a five-year contract with CBS radio in Kansas City, Missouri. Despite the Masseys' cowboy background, they cultivated an urban sound and a sophisticated image. They relied on planned musical arrangements, wore costumes and included Mexican material sung in Spanish. In 1938 Louise Massey began recording and singing for NBC programs in New York. Louise wrote "White Azaleas," which sold 3 million copies, and "My Adobe Hacienda," listed simultaneously on the Lucky Strike Hit Parade and the Hillbilly Hit Parade. She also wrote "South of the Border (Down Mexico Way)" which has become a standard in western music. She appeared in the 1938 movie Where the Buffalo Roam, with Tex Ritter. She retired in 1950 to the Hondo Valley in Lincoln County, New Mexico.
She and her husband had one daughter, Joy. She was admitted into the Smithsonian Institution Broadcaster's Library in 1976. In 1982 she was inducted into the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame. In 1985, her ranch in New Mexico was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. She died on June 20, 1983.
|
| Reference Number |
28662 |
| Death |
4 May 2003 |
Tinnie, Lincoln County, New Mexico [1, 7] |
| Person ID |
I28456 |
Maybee Society |
| Last Modified |
7 Apr 2024 |
1920 - 2003 (82 years)
