THEAxTORNEY GENERAL 

OFTEXAS 

AUSTIN II. Tsxan 

WILL WIJBON 

AlTORNEY GENERAL August 13, 1959 

Honorable Robert S. Calvert 

Comptroller of Public Accounts 

Austin, Texas 

Opinion No. W-686 

Re: Whether widow, of a 

former Texas Ranger, 

who subsequently remarried, is eligible 

for the pension provided in Senate Bill 

53, Acts 56th Legislature, Regular SesDear Mr. Calvert: 

sion, 1959, Chapter 

283. 

Your opinion request relates to portions of 

Senate Bill No. 53, Acts 56th Legislature, Regular 

Session, 1959, Chapter 283, Page 629, as follows: 

'Texas '$Z' ' 

ensions to Widows of Former 

ers. 

Dollars "$ ( 80.00) 

A pension of Eighty 

per month shall also 

be paid to the widow of each former 

Texas Ranger who meets the following 

conditions: 

"(1) The widow was legally married 

to a Texas Ranger or former Texas Ranger 

prior to January 1, 1957, and at the time 

of his death; 

"(2) Her husband met the conditions 

set out in paragraphs (l), (2), and (3) 

of subsection (a) of this Section." 

The fact situation giving rise to this request 

is as stated in your letter: 
‘ - 

Honorable Robert S. Calvert, page 2 (WW-686) 

'Anna Cooke Williams was married 

to Henry Lee Ransom on the 26th day of 

December, 1906. She was married to the 

said Henry Lee Ransom, a Ranger, who was 

killed in line of duty in the Ranger 

Service on the first day of March, 1918. 

"The said Anna Cooke Williams later 

married Purdy M. Williams on the 1st day 

of July, 1922, and Purdy M. Williams died 

on the 30th day of October, 1952. 

'The said Ii. L. Ransom qualified in 

every respect as a Texas Ranger, and were 

he living at this time he would be entitled 

to a Ranger's pension." 

Webster's New International Dictionary (Second 

Edition 1938) defines a widow as follows: 

"A woman who has lost her husband by 

death; the female survivor of a marital 

union." 

In various cases throughout the United States 

the courts have held that remarriage by a woman would 

not terminate her widowhood. In re Rhode's Estate., 

284 N.W. 706, 288 Mich; 220; Alabama Pension Commission 

v. Morris, 4 So.2d 896, 897 242 Ala. 110; Trathen v. 

United States, C.A. Pa., 196 F. 2d 757, 759; In re 

McArthur's Estate, 292 P. 469, 471, 210 Cal. -In 

discussing the remarriage of the surviving wife, Corpus 

Juris Secundum has taken the following position: 

. However, the word 'widow' is 

frequekiy used to refer to the person of 

the surviving spouse, rather than to her 

marital state or condition, that is, the 

term does not indicate whether she remains 

a widow or marries again; and thus it has 

been said that in the general sense of 

mankind, and even in a legal sense, although a widow remarries and becomes the 

wife of another she does not cease to be 

the widow of the deceased husband. . . .' 

94 C.J.S. 51, Widow, Sec. 27. 
Honorable Robert S. Calvert, Page 3 (WW-686) 

It is our opinion that under the provisions of 

Senate Bill No. 53, the remarriage of this surviving 

spouse did not destroy her eligibility for the pension 

earned by her first husband. 

SUMMARY 

The subsequent marriage of the 

surviving spouse of a Texas 

Ranger now deceased who was eligible for a pension did not deprive her of her eligibility to 

receive pension payments under 

Senate Bill No. 53. 

Yours very truly, 

WILL WILSON 

Attorney General of Texas 

BY 

Assistant 

JCSrmg:rm 

APPROVED: 

OPINION COMMITTEE 

Geo. P. Blackburn, Chairman 

Raymond V. Loftin, Jr. 

Joe Allen Osborn 

Riley Eugene Fletcher 

L. P. Lollar 

REVIEWED FOR THE ATTORNEY GENERAL 

BY: W. V. Geppert