Mary Katherine Stallard

Mary was born in Wheat, Tennessee on January 12, 1922, to James and Minnie Evans. She shared her January 12th birthday with two of her three brothers, born in separate years. Mary grew up in Eton Crossroads, TN; later her family moved to Fountain City, TN, and she attended Central High School in Knoxville. During the war, her hometown of Wheat was bought by the US government and changed to Oak Ridge and became the center of the nuclear research effort to end the war. Mary began working at Oak Ridge in 1944. She worked at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory until 1955, when she married Frank W. Stallard, a resident doctoral mathematician from Appalachia, Virginia. That year they moved to Ames, Iowa before settling in Atlanta, Georgia in 1956 where Frank began his career as a Professor of Mathematics at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

For the next 45 years, Frank and Mary resided in Atlanta, Georgia where they started and raised their family of three boys. They joined Embry Hills United Methodist Church in 1967. Over the following 45 years, Frank and Mary were active members of the church community in Sunday school, various church committees and Mary in the United Methodist Women. Mary was known for her wonderful cooking. Whenever there was a church covered dish dinner, Mary would bring several dishes that were always eagerly consumed by those who knew of her culinary talent. She loved to entertain and would spend days preparing for the annual Stallard Christmas Open House where family, friends from the neighborhood, Georgia Tech Math Department and the church would gather for good food and good stories.

Mary dedicated her life to her families: first to her mother, father, and her brothers and later to her own children Mike, Kent and Will. Her time was spent shuttling her boys around to various school, Little League, church events, or preparing deserts to surprise her many friends in her church and community. In everything she did, Mary put her family and her church first. The greatest gift she gave her sons was demonstrating what an ideal parent should be, one who loved unconditionally and demonstrated that love every day.

In 2005, with their work of raising three sons complete, Mary and Frank moved to Wilmington, NC to be closer to their grandchildren and two of their three sons. Though dementia increasingly made some memories difficult to recall, she never forgot her sons, and she proudly introduced her boys to her caregivers in her nursing home, sometimes as her sons, sometimes as her brothers but always with love and pride. In her last days, barely able to speak, her final words to her sons were "I love you always." Those words were the essence of Mary Evans Stallard.

Mary was preceded in death by her husband of 56 years Frank W. Stallard, and her three brothers, Newt Evans, Bob Evans and Ray Evans. She is survived by her three sons and daughters-in-law, Michael and Carol Stallard, Kent and Richi Stallard, and Frank W. (Will) and Grace Stallard, 8 grandchildren and 6 great-grandchildren.

There will be a visitation at Floral Hills Funeral Home, in Tucker, GA, Friday, October 27th, 6-8 pm. Funeral Services will be Saturday, October 28th, 11 am at Embry Hills United Methodist Church, in Atlanta, GA, followed by interment at Arlington Cemetery in Sandy Springs.

Arrangements by Floral Hills Funeral Home and Cremation Services, Tucker