She was born Mary Joe Hain from Daisetta, an East Texas town with a population of less than 1,000.

But in the world of fashion, that name won't hunt. An agent urged her to change it. So Mary Joe became Dallas Hill, Houston's first super model.

On Saturday, Hill died at age 86.

Houston modeling legend Neal Hamil wrote on Facebook about meeting Hill in 1977 at his first runway show as a model. She slammed a cowboy hat on his head just as he took to the runway and said, "Go get 'em!" She became a mentor for the young model who would go on to own his own agency.

Through her 40-year career as a high fashion model, Hill worked in New York and around the world for major fashion houses and designers such as Oscar De La Renta, Victor Costa and Edith Head, the Oscar-winning designer who costumed Alfred Hitchcock films, among others.

In the early 1950s, Hill attended college at the University of Lamar in Beaumont and later married Jerry Gifford Hill, an Air Force officer who died in 2007 at age 77.

They had four sons and one daughter. Hill was also a devout Catholic and a gifted artist.

Hill was once the house model for Isabell Gerhart, a now-defunct upscale Houston boutique, and she modeled for Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus and Sakowitz, another former luxury store.

Corporate and personal image consultant Helen Perry, a longtime friend of Hill's, first met the model in the 1980s and became her personal stylist.

"I remember she was going to a funeral and wanted to wear a black dress with red shoes, which she didn't have. So she spray painted a pair red," Perry said. "That was classic Dallas. She was funny and country in so many ways."

When it came to the runway, Hill was legendary, Perry said. "She didn't walk the runway. She floated. There aren't models like that any more. "

"There will never be another Dallas Hill," Hamil said." I was honored to know her, privileged to have her endless friendship and support and love. She was just pure love. Godspeed, darling Mary Joe. Gone but certainly never forgotten."

She is survived by her children Marc, Thaddeus, Gifford and Filomena. Her son, Christian, died in 2009.

Visitation will be at 7 p.m. June 30, at Earthman Bellaire Funeral Home, 4525 Bissonnet. Services will be held 10 a.m. July 1, at St. Michael Catholic Church, 410 N. Center St. in Weimar.