Marie (Mae) Isabelle Paiva of Cedar Park, Tex., died in her sleep in the comfort of her home on June 2. She was 93.

Mae was born on Martha’s Vineyard in 1931 to Angelo and Isabel Frank. She grew up on the Island with her sisters Evelyn, Eleanor, Olga, Elizabeth and brother Angelo Jr., before the entire family moved to San Diego in 1944. Mae graduated from Balboa University’s School of Business and worked as a law clerk, during which time she met and fell in love with John Paiva, a commercial fisherman and U.S. Navy veteran who was also from Martha’s Vineyard.

They married in Palm Springs in 1960 and had children John Jr. (from John’s previous marriage), Brian, Patricia and Aren. Following her husband’s retirement from the fishing industry, Mae and John opened The Stagecoach Inn, a country western bar with a devoted following that saw the Paiva’s as their family. The couple happily lived in the San Diego area for 47 years before moving to Texas in 2007 to start a new chapter in their lives.

She was the matriarch of the family. Her many children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews and cousins were always welcome through the doors of her home. Her cooking of Portuguese sweetbread, kale soup and pickled pork is fondly remembered. In her free time, she tended to her garden, especially the roses and crepe myrtles she enjoyed watching bloom in the spring. She loved her daytime soap opera, ice cream and the occasional rum ball. She had a mischievous wit and a laugh that was well-loved (and well-heard) at every family get-together.

Most of all, she was a woman of deep faith and expressed that faith in how she loved and served her family.

After her death, her family found a box on the top shelf of her closet. This box was filled to the brim with love letters sent to and from her husband. At the end of each letter was the sign off “with all my love.” If she is remembered for nothing else, let her be remembered for the signature she left on everything she did in life, because everything she did was with all her love.

She is survived by her children, grandchildren and the many nieces, nephews and cousins who loved her dearly. She is predeceased by her parents, her siblings, her stepson and her beloved husband.

Later this year, her family will travel back to Martha’s Vineyard to inter her and her husband’s ashes in the Paiva family plot in Oak Grove Cemetery.