Nila McNair

Nila Robertson McNair was born to parents Mitchell Robertson and Ellice Thompson Robertson on their remote Sycamore Creek homestead about 50 miles west of Silver City, New Mexico, on Feb. 14, 1936.

Her parents migrated to Deming, New Mexico, shortly after World War II, then on to the Ireland area in the late 1940s. They soon moved to a farm near Carlton, where she finished her school years.

After a jaunt in business school in Dallas, Nila moved back to the Silver City area where her oldest sister Jewel Robertson Brown lived. It was there in Silver City that Nila met the love of her life, Robert “Bob” McNair. They were married Sept. 11, 1957, in Silver City.

Nila’s oldest child James Ray (Ray) was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Oct. 27, 1960; her youngest son Thomas Lynn (Tom) was born in Deming March 25, 1963.

In 1964, Bob and Nila moved to Idaho, later moving to a small farm near Star, Idaho, in 1968. In 1976 they moved to a ranch west of Hamilton on the Cowhouse Creek, which would be their home for the rest of Bob’s life and hers until 2019 when she moved to Hamilton.

Nila was preceded in death by her parents, Mitchell and Ellice Thomson Robertson; her sisters Jewel Brown, Ruth Anderson and Helen Robertson; and her husband of 48-1/2 years, Bob McNair.

Survivors include her sons Ray McNair of Hamilton and Tom McNair of DeLeon; grandchildren Steven McNair of Gatesville, John McNair of Hewitt and Ashley Steward of Waco; six great-grandchildren; and many cousins, nieces and nephews.

The unfathomable peace Nila had in her last weeks here on earth were a reflection of the residing presence of Jesus in her heart. She’s now in the eternal care of her Savior where there is no pain, no suffering, no death…, and the heart of the McNair family is that all who read this final tribute would come to know the same eternal love of God through Jesus Christ our Savior.