“How-dee!” It’s the familiar greeting in a voice that could call hogs. And the look is familiar, too: There’s the full-skirted gingham dress and flowered straw hat with the dangling price tag.
It’s “Texas Minnie,” a.k.a. Marjorie Weber, a local actress who frequently performs her Minnie Pearl imitation for civic and church groups and at “opry” houses, as well as in Branson, Missouri.
Originally from Arkansas, Weber has lived in our neighborhood since 1963, when she moved here with her husband and three sons. This community-minded “Minnie” serves as president of Owenwood United Methodist Church’s United Women, as vice-president of A.A.R.P. Group #2252, and as a volunteer for Love For Kids and the Dallas Arboretum.
“Minnie started from doing a ‘HeeHaw’ party at White Rock Methodist Church years ago,” Weber says, “and it took off from there. As long as people enjoy it, I guess I’ll keep doing it.”
Since 1972, Weber also has been acting, including appearances in episodes of “Walker, Texas Ranger, LeAnn Rimes’ recent made-for-TV movie and the MTV series “Austin Stories.”
“I also do commercials,” Weber says, “and I recently appeared in my first rock video in Deep Ellum for a group called Two Skinnee JJs.”
In May, Weber will compete in the Ms. Texas Senior America Pageant with 32 other contestants. And on May 12 at Casa Linda Methodist Church, she will present a book review based on the Minnie Pearl biography “Sarah, Known as Minnie” at 7 p.m.
