MARY LEWIS GRIFFIN FOOTE

NASHVILLE – Mary Lewis Griffin Foote died in her home in Nashville, NC on Tuesday, August 14, 2007, after a wonderful life that was, in her own words, “spent, not wasted.”

She was born September 16, 1937 in Benvenue, the daughter of Walter Leonard Griffin and Rachel Williams Griffin. She was raised on a small Nash County tobacco farm, attended the Benvenue public school, and graduated magna cum laude with a degree in elementary education and a minor in geology from the University of Texas at Austin.

As a school girl, she enjoyed reading and traveled to seemingly unattainable faraway places she could only reach in the pages of books at the Braswell Memorial Library. She loved children, education, music, storytelling, and writing. She made many friends around the world. All these joys she pursued on a grand scale.

She taught elementary school and became principal of the Kula Kokua School for handicapped children in Honolulu, Hawaii. She lived the adventures she read about in her youth, from Texas to Thailand. She learned to speak Thai, waded in the Kwai River, and swam in the Gulf of Siam. She was an instructor for the first class of special education teachers in Bangkok, and she worked for two years in refugee camps on behalf of displaced Lao and Hmong.

For love of music, she taught piano, and with no particular talent played it courageously and joyously for 50 years. Her keen sense of humor, ascribed to the Griffin wing of the family, has passed undiluted to her many grandchildren, and, curiously, to her two daughters-in-law. She is fondly remembered by her family for decades of story telling to and about them. She wrote a book, Like the Moon, co-edited a college geology text, and worked at Service-Sales, a family truck and RV business for many years.

While away, she never forgot her roots, writing dozens of Nashville Graphic newspaper accounts of the adventures of a “tobacco road” girl abroad. She returned to serve as Executive Director of the Nash County Arts Council, collecting hundreds of oral histories from Nash County residents. These were published to preserve deeply personal accounts of our region’s heritage. She served for a decade on the board of the same Braswell Memorial Library that had inspired her in her youth. She volunteered in Nash-Rocky Mount schools, telling stories, proctoring exams, and in other capacities; she served on the Nash-Rocky Mount Board of Education in her final months. She will be missed by the family and the community she loved.

She is survived by her husband, John Alonzo Foote Jr.; her son William Ronald Deans Jr. and his wife Charlotte High Deans; her son David Spruill Deans and his wife Marcia McGinnis Deans; and eight grandchildren, William Thomas Deans, Carolyn Marie Deans, Lauren Elizabeth Deans, Paul Griffin Deans, Susan Malia Deans, John Randolph Deans, Richard McAlister Deans, and David Lewis Deans; her sister, Jean Griffin Taylor; her brother, Walter Leonard Griffin Jr. and her mother-in-law Mollie Moore Deans.

The love that she shared with so many others was returned to her during her illness. Many kind friends from near and far – heralding from Nashville to Benvenue and from Indonesia to Palestine came to comfort her and her family. The nurses, doctors, and staff both at Nash General Hospital and Duke University Medical Center, as well as the Stony Creek Rescue Squad and Hospice of Nash General did everything humanly possible on her behalf. Her family is grateful.

The Memorial service was held at Wheeler and Woodlief Funeral Home at 4:00 p.m. on August 16, 2007 with Pastor Robert Bergland officiating. Please, no flowers. Memorial gifts may be sent to “First United Methodist Church Volunteers in Mission Disaster Response” at 100 South Church St., Rocky Mount, NC 27804. Visitation was held at the home of Bill and Charlotte Deans on August 15, 2007 from 5:00 – 8:00 p.m.. There will be a private burial.

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