A private interment will be held on Saturday, August 27, 2005 at Dreamland Cemetery with Dr. David Lowrie, Jr. pastor of First Baptist Church, officiating. The family will receive friends at Brooks Chapel from 4:00 to 6:00 PM on Saturday, August 27. Mary Elizabeth Cornette was born September 9, 1909 in Logan County, Kentucky, to John Henry and Hallie (Brister) Lawson. She attended public schools in Russellville, Kentucky and received her baccalaureate degree from Bowling Green Business University and her master"s degree from Western Kentucky University. She taught at Bowling Green Business University from 1932 to 1944 and was the long-time owner of the Canyon Art Gallery. Mary Elizabeth married James P. Cornette February 26, 1930. Three sons were born and raised in early childhood while both parents were full time instructors and each received two college degrees. They moved to Waco, Texas in 1945 where James was Dean of Baylor University and to Canyon, Texas in 1948 where James became President of West Texas State College. Wherever she lived, Mary Elizabeth was involved in family and community responsibilities. At Waco and Canyon she enjoyed entertaining the faculty at monthly coffees and hosting frequent social affairs for students and university guests. Encouraging the arts and the spread of various cultures through them was a lifelong commitment. In 1965, with strong support from James, Mary Elizabeth established the Canyon Art Gallery, a major cultural institution for the Texas Panhandle with international influence reaching from the Panhandle to England and France and Japan. She was instrumental in extending the Panhandle culture to those countries and incorporating the cultures from those countries into the Panhandle. Because of these endeavors, she was awarded the West Texas Chamber of Commerce "Cultural Award for Outstanding Achievement" in 1972. She was herself an artist, but seldom showed her work, even to family. Nevertheless, she received recognition, including two second place oil awards, for paintings that she entered in the Gallery-La Luz National Miniature shows in La Luz, NM during 1979 - 1984. Mary Elizabeth was preceded in death by her husband, James, in 1986, and her sister, Mildred Irene Lawson in 1993. Survivors include three sons, Marvin Brister, and wife, Wilma, of Canyon, James Lawson, and wife, Carolyn, of Ames, Iowa, and William Richard, and wife, Sylvia, of Forsyth, Missouri; seven grandchildren, eleven great grandchildren, and two step great grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial contributions be made to the Cornette Library at West Texas A&M, WTAMU Box 60748, Canyon, Texas 79016, or the charity of your choice.