Mary Maude Cummins (Mrs. Willis S. Buster)
Illness Is Fatal to Mrs. Buster
[Source: Sherman TX Democrat, December 14, 1936]

Was Active in Work of Baptist Church; Composed Music
Mrs. W. S. Buster, 69, died at a local hospital Monday at 3:10 a.m., following a short illness. Funeral services are to be conducted Tuesday at 3 p.m. from the home of her son, J. D. Buster, 718 South Walnut, by Dr. J. A. Ellis, pastor of the First Baptist church. Interment is to follow at West Hill cemetery. Arrangements are under the direction of Dannel-Scott Funeral home.
As Miss Maude Cummins, Mrs. Buster was born Aug. 15, 1867, at Bonnie Dale Farm near Pottsboro, the daughter of the late Judge James Hunter Cummins and Mrs. Helen A. Cummins. Mrs. Cummins died last Tuesday at Denison.
Mrs. Buster was educated in what is said to have been the first public free school in Texas, the old Denison high school. She also attended St. Xavier's Academy at Denison and later taught music at that school.
In 1891 she was married in Pottsboro to W. S. Buster, who came from Kentucky in 1888. They resided in Denison a short while and then moved to Whitesboro, where Mr. Buster served two terms as mayor. In September 1916, they moved with their children to Sherman, where they had since resided.
The mother of four children, Mrs. Buster was principally interested in home life, though she found time to become identified with music, poetry, and painting. "The Gate City Waltz," a melody she dedicated to Denison 50 years ago, was her first musical composition. She had since composed various pieces of music, in addition to numerous poems, among them "Texas" and "Blue Bonnets."
She was active in church work and for years was a member of the XXI Club, Denison literary group for women, the Texas Poetry society, and other organizations.
Surviving are her husband, W. S. Buster of Sherman; a son, J. [James] D. Buster of Sherman; three daughters, Mrs. Fred Mooty and Miss Maude Buster of Sherman and Mrs. W. A. Roberts of Tipton, Okla.; three sisters, Misses Ethel and Newell Cummins of Denison and Mrs. H. V. Robertson of Amarillo; two brothers, H. H. Cummins of Denison and Walter S. Cummins of Wichita Falls; and two grandchildren, J. D. Jr. and Charlie Victoria Buster of Sherman.
Pallbearers are to include Carl R. Nall, J. S. Kone, W. M. Shaw, J. F. Strickland, Edgar Peveto, H. G. Tuck, W. Morgan Works, and H. Grady Thompson. Honorary pallbearers are to be members of the board of deacons of the First Baptist church.