14. Mary Ann Gore
Mary Ann Gore was Betty Gore’s mother, who dealt with the aftermath of the case.
Mary Inn Pomeroy’s life changed forever on June 13, 1980, when her daughter, Betty Gore, was killed in Wylie, Texas. Betty was a fifth-grade teacher, a mother of two, and part of a close-knit church community. Her death — forty-one blows from an ax wielded by Candy Montgomery, a family friend — shattered not only her family but an entire town. For Mary Inn and her husband, Bob, grief arrived with cameras, headlines, and questions they were never ready to answer.
Betty had been the steady one in the family, a woman who balanced her classroom, her home, and her friendships with quiet care. Her mother remembered her as devoted and dependable. Betty’s younger daughter, Bethany, grew up to become a teacher, continuing the work her mother had loved. For Mary Inn, that was both comfort and sorrow, proof that Betty’s legacy endured even as her story was defined by violence.
The trial in McKinney that October turned private loss into public theater. The defense dissected Betty’s character, and the affair between her husband, Allan Gore, and Candy Montgomery became national gossip. Mary Inn sat through testimony that described her daughter in ways no mother should ever hear. When the jury found Montgomery not guilty, she left the courtroom hollowed out. Justice, in her eyes, had slipped away.
Back in Norwich, Kansas, she and Bob took in their granddaughters, Alisa and Bethany, raising them as their own. The move gave them distance from the attention but not from the ache. They focused on giving the girls stability — a home with order, warmth, and a sense of normal life. Friends in town described Mary Inn as quiet but determined, the kind of woman who never spoke much about what happened yet carried its weight every day.
She rarely appeared in public discussions about the case afterward. Instead, her strength showed in the way she rebuilt family life around two children who had lost everything. That choice became her way of honoring Betty’s memory: not through speeches or interviews, but through the simple act of keeping her daughter’s family together when the world around them had fallen apart.
Despite the dark history surrounding the Candy Montgomery case, North Texas, particularly Collin County, has continued to grow and evolve over the decades. With its blend of historic charm and modern conveniences, the area has become increasingly attractive to homebuyers, including veterans looking to settle in Texas. The availability of VA Loans in Texas has made it easier for veterans to purchase homes in sought-after communities like McKinney and Wylie, offering them the chance to own a piece of this dynamic region. These loans provide significant benefits, such as no down payment and competitive interest rates, making homeownership more accessible for those who have served our country. Whether you’re interested in a historic home or a new build, a VA construction loan can help make the dream of living in North Texas a reality.
