Obituary of Molly Farrell Mahoney

Molly Farrell Mahoney was born August 11, 1953 in Austin, Texas to V.L. Mike Mahoney, of Tucson, Arizona, and Barbara Southgate, of Nashville, Tennessee.  Molly passed on March 19, 2025 in Fort Worth, Texas. The second child of four, she spent her early childhood in Austin, Texas and Yuma, Arizona before relocating to Fort Worth, Texas where her father served as the City’s Planning Director.  Her mother was a FWISD teacher and long-time volunteer at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History.

Molly grew up in Wedgwood where she attended Bruce Shulkey Elementary, Wedgwood Middle and subsequently graduated from Southwest High School in 1971.  She was a gifted designer and artist often found drawing and painting or designing and sewing her own clothing. After high school, she pursued a dream of going to San Francisco, California where she enrolled in the California College of the Arts. Missing Texas, she returned to Fort Worth where she studied interior design at Texas Christian University and architecture at the University of Texas at Arlington. Architecture and design was in her blood, having grown up with a father in city planning and grandfather (Donald Wright Southgate) who would become an acclaimed architect in Nashville with many nationally registered structures to his credit.

In 1976 she married Gary Lee Brizendine one year her senior, also of Fort Worth, Texas.  Gary and Molly first met in middle school through her older brother Lloyd in 1964.  In 1978 they had a son, Graham Newberg Brizendine of Fort Worth and lived in the TCU area for many years. Much of her adult life was spent as a mother, artist, jewelry designer, and residential designer, drawing homes for many builders in the area.

Later in life, Molly continued her work in design and the arts, notably working at the Kimbell Art Museum. She lived in the Tanglewood area, close to her grandchildren, Gage and Grace who she continued to spend time with up to her passing.

Molly Farrell Mahoney is survived by her son Graham Newberg Brizendine and his wife Heather Tasa Brizendine: grandchildren Gage Isaac Brizendine and Grace Elliston Brizendine; older brother Lloyd Mahoney, younger brother Kirk Mahoney, and younger sister Ellen Mahoney Crouse.

Molly loved the arts and instilled an appreciation of all forms of art in everyone she met.  In addition to her son and grandchildren, she was especially fond of her niece Clara Jewel Moore of Fort Worth.  She will be missed by her family and all of those whose lives she touched.

Should friends and family wish to make memorial gifts, the family suggests making them to the Alzheimer’s Association (www.alz.org) or the Kimbell Art Museum Fund (www.kimbellart.org) in her memory.