Texan’s pink Mustang with a past helps destigmatize suicide in Boerne.
Sam McGee, a Boerne resident and owner of a private wealth management firm in the Texas Hill Country hamlet, spent decades chasing a car that meant the world to his family: A passion pink Mustang specially produced in 1968. His grandmother owned the car before she died of suicide — a turn on the oft-thrown-around phrase “committed suicide,” which McGee says needs reworking.
“I never knew my grandmother,” McGee said from his office chair overlooking the cotton-candy pink mustang outside. “She died in ’73. I was born in ’75. So, I was born two years after she passed. Back then, back in the ‘60s and ‘70s, there wasn’t a whole lot of mental health resources that we have today.”
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McGee’s grandmother died just several years after buying a rare Mustang produced in a specific shade of pink for Valentine’s Day, and sold only in February of 1968. Though his paternal grandmother, Eva McGee, was often described as lighthearted, laughing, and a light in the family’s life, she wasn’t immune to dark clouds and gloomy times — a message McGee and his family are desperate to share.
“A lot of people go through some sort of crisis in their life, and my grandmother died of suicide,” he said, noting he uses the word “died” rather than “committed” to help destigmatize the act where no crime was committed. “We do want to be a kind of light on the dark subject and have people openly be able to talk about crises and depressions.
That’s really what this car represents.”
The 1968 pink Mustang which belonged to Sam McGee’s grandmother who died of suicide in 1973, which he now uses to create an open dialogue around mental health crises.
The 1968 pink Mustang which belonged to Sam McGee’s grandmother who died of suicide in 1973, which he now uses to create an open dialogue around mental health crises.
Zachary-Taylor Wright
These days, the car often sits outside McGee’s home or office, but he also enlists its pink glory to spread the word of mental health resources of all kinds at Texas Hill Country happenings, like school functions and parades. He says the “awkward” color of the American-made muscle car helps spark an even more awkward conversation. However, laying claim to the family heirloom took decades of persistence and even more digging to learn of his family history.
“I restored Mustangs with my dad growing up,” he said, adding that he now runs the Hill Country Texas Mustang club in Boerne. “Sometime in the ‘90s when my dad and I were working on a car, he’d always bring up this pink Mustang that his mom had. He wouldn’t talk much about her. Obviously, it was a very traumatic moment for him, but he always spoke very highly of her.”
This memory of athis pink Mustang with a black-and-white checkered soft top never left McGee’s memory. In fact, in adulthood, he began the search for this legendary four-wheeler he’d heard so much about during his time with wrench-in-hand. After years of searching, he traced the pink lady back to Norton County, Kansas, not far from where his grandmother roamed the roads
Despite McGee’s best initial efforts, the new owners weren’t willing to sell it back to its original owners. This, however, set him on a mission to reclaim the convertible that held such fond memories for the family.
“Over the next 20 years, I would call her every single May,” he said.
“Every May like clockwork. It went through my Blackberry to my iPhone to my paper calendar. Every May I’d call, and I’d get the same answer, ‘No. Not really. No. No.’ So, it’s kind of a story of persistence, which is how we need to treat mental illness and destigmatizing it and getting resources.”
While out in that area of Kansas for his grandfather’s 80th birthday in 2021, McGee gave the hesitant owners yet another call — after 18 years of asking — but they weren’t budging on selling just yet. However, the tough sellers did allow him and his family to come see the car again knowing how important it was to the family’s history.
That’s when McGee’s father saw Eva’s car for the first time since her passing. When it came time to bid farewell to the Mustang yet again, McGee let the Kansas dwellers know he’d be calling again come May.
Finally, in 2022, his persistence paid off.
“I called her [the owner] in spring of 2022,” McGee recollects. “I said, ‘Hey. I know the answer already, it’s 20 years passed. I know the answer’s no, but would you consider selling it?’”
After a weekend of deliberation, McGee finally got the “yes” he’d been waiting 20 years for.
Zachary-Taylor Wright
While it’s a pink car with a checkered past and specific family legacy, McGee said it really symbolizes a message for all. It’s a message that anyone can fall victim to the darker days of depression and shouldn’t be afraid to ask for help.
In fact, he says it should be encouraged.
“It’s a living tribute to her. It’s really important to me that we utilize this to put a light on darkness and to talk about a difficult subject,” he said. “We really owe it to ourselves to lean into that long war and be persistent. The car is a one-of-one. Well, that’s also a symbol for you, for me, for the person next door, for your neighbor, your boss, your coworker. We’re all one-of-one. We’re all unique in the image of God and not to be replicated.”
Zachary-Taylor Wright is a local native, spending half his time in the Texas Hill Country, namely Boerne, and the Alamo City. He fell in love with politics and news reporting during his time at San Antonio College where he was the editor of the college district newspaper. Now, he’s back in the city where it all began.
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“I never knew my grandmother,” McGee said from his office chair overlooking the cotton-candy pink mustang outside. “She died in ’73. I was born in ’75. So, I was born two years after she passed. Back then, back in the ‘60s and ‘70s, there wasn’t a whole lot of mental health resources that we have today.”
