Marilyn McAdams Sibley

Marilyn McAdams Sibley (September 30, 1921 –January 19, 2006)^[1] was an historian and author who was the president of the Texas State Historical Association from 1981-1982.^[2]

Sibley was born in Walker County in east Texas to Horace McAdams and his wife, Nevada McAdams (1894–1969).^[1][3] On June 24, 1944, she married J. Dale Sibley at the First Baptist Church of Huntsville, the county seat of Walker County. In her later years, she was again a member of the same congregation.^[3]

She received her bachelor's degree from Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, her master's degree from the University of Houston, and a Ph.D. from Rice University in Houston. She served as professor and chairman of the history department at Houston Baptist University and was briefly a visiting professor of history at the University of Texas at Austin.^[3]

Among Sibley's eight books are Travelers in Texas, 1761-1860 (1967), The Port of Houston: A History (1968), Samuel H. Walker's Account of the Mier Expeditions (1978), The Methodist Hospital in Houston: Serving the World (1990), and Lone Stars and State Gazettes: Texas Newspapers Before the Civil War (2000).^[4] She also penned several articles in the Journal of Southern History and Southwestern Historical Quarterly.^[3]

In 1974, she was named a fellow of the TSHA.^[2] In 1976, Sibley received the Minnie Piper Stevens Award for excellence in teaching. In 1967, she received the Summerfield G. Roberts Award from the Sons of the Republic of Texas for the best book about Texas published that year. She was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Daughters of the Republic of Texas,^[3] and the East Texas Historical Association.^[5]

J. Dale and Marilyn Sibley had three sons, David McAdams Sibley, an attorney-lobbyist who served in the Texas State Senate from 1991–2002 and as mayor of Waco from 1987–1988; Dr. Stuart Dale Sibley of Dallas, and Dr. Mark McAdams Sibley of Richardson, Texas. She had two sisters, Dorothy McAdams Sparks, who predeceased her, and Ruth McAdams Ralston of Longview in Gregg County, Texas, the widow of Robert H. Ralston (1922–1991). She had eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Services were held at the McAdams Chapel in Huntsville. Interment followed in McAdams Cemetery there.^[3]

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