Award-winning cowgirl dies

Barbara Mazurek, award-winning coach, teacher and rancher, died July 26 at the age of 84.

Born in Bandera on August 26, 1936, Mazurek spent 38 years as a teacher, organizing the Bandera Little Olympics in 1961.

Mazurek spent many years working and raising goats on the Mazurek Family Ranch, which has been in the family since the mid 1800s.

She served as president of the Bandera Farm Bureau during many of the 59 years she was a member, director of the Bandera Junior Livestock Show for 45 years and director of the Bandera County Farmers and Ranchman Association for 21 years.

Honored in 2001 as the Hometown Hero for Bandera, Mazurek was recognized this year as the Teas County Agricultural Agents Association’s Man of the Year. She’s only the second woman to receive the award.

On July 23, Mazurek was inducted into the Frontier Times Museum’s Texas Heroes Hall of Honor. Her father, Bob Mansfield, who donated land to the county for what would become Mansfield Park, was inducted in 2013.

“We’re so grateful that we were able to honor Barbara this year as a Texas Hero,” said Rebecca Norton, Executive Director of the Frontier Times Museum. “It was so nice that her family was able to come together and help her celebrate. It was such a lovely evening, and I hope the museum was able to give the family a wonderful memory to always cherish.”

Editor’s Note: The remainder of this article is an obituary that was paid for and submitted to the Bandera Bulletin. Aside from some slight format corrections, it has not been edited for content.

Barbara Lynn Mazurek, 84, of Utopia Texas, passed away on July 26, 2021. She was born in Bandera to Bob and Ruth Mansfield on August 26, 1936.

She went to school in Bandera and graduated from Texas Women’s University in 1957 with a Bachelors in Education. She worked in Odessa for two years, teaching history and English while coaching volleyball, basketball, track and cross country. She then returned home to marry Hubert Hicks Mazurek on June 13, 1959. She continued teaching and coaching in Bandera until her retirement in 1995.

Barbara is preceded in death by her parents, Bob and Ruth Mansfield, and by her husband, Hubert Mazurek.

Barbara is survived by her children; Robert and Dee Anne Mazurek, Raegan and Julie Mazurek and Ruth Butler; her four grandchildren, Reilly and Raelynn Butler and Reese and Rien Mazurek; sisters, Shelby Bennett of Georgetown, TX, and Mary Jo Costello and husband, Jim, of Garland, TX. She is also survived by numerous nieces and nephews.

Visitation was held 5:00-7:00 p.m. on Friday, July 30, 2021, at Grimes Funeral Home.

Funeral services were held at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, July 31, 2021, at Grimes Funeral Home. Burial followed at Bandera Cemetery.

Pallbearers will be Reilly Butler, Reese Mazurek, Rien Mazurek, John David Cox, Hague Dunlap and Jim Mangold.

Memorials may be given to Bandera County Jr. Livestock Show Association, PO Box 187, Bandera TX 78003.