Mary Coleman Logan

MARY C. LOGAN, 89, of Stonehouse in Toano, passed away peacefully on Tuesday, August 13. “Lib” Logan was born Mary Elizabeth Coleman on June 28, 1930 in Durham, NC to Paul Lee and Martha Ann Coleman. A graduate of Duke University, she became a social worker helping to bring aid and social justice to the impoverished and disadvantaged. Her case work took her—alone—to the poorest rural parts of Alabama in the early 1950s. In 1952, she married James “Jim” M. Logan, also a graduate of Duke. Two years into their marriage, Jim was drafted. Suddenly, Lib was an Army wife. They quickly embraced the rewards and challenges of military life: patriotic duty, world travel, exposure to numerous cultures, and family sacrifices. She ran a household filled with love and caring despite the constant moves, new school systems, counseling other Army wives, and frequent entertaining responsibilities. All this, and she still continued to make impacts in social work and develop an ever growing circle of friends long before the advent and ease of social media. She opened the first Head Start office in Kansas City during the Johnson Administration’s ‘War on Poverty’, performed pioneering work in elder care, and concluded her social work career serving domestic abuse cases. She was involved in the Methodist Church wherever she lived, often joining the choir and becoming an avid Sunday School member. Along with her career, she raised two sons, trundling them from state to state and even to Europe, entering them into new schools, usually on a yearly basis. At 54, she contracted a rare, terminal disease and was given 6 months to live. She faced the end with courage, prayer, and a frozen margarita. Miraculously, she overcame the odds and thrived another 35 years. She loved reading, conversation, laughing, entertaining, hobbies, her dogs, dear friends, family, and especially her husband, the love of her life. She was extremely gracious, exceptionally intelligent, generous to a fault, and will be dearly missed. Besides her husband, she is preceded by her sister, Annie Louise Coleman, and brother, Paul Lee Coleman II. She is survived by her son, James Scott Logan of Williamsburg, VA and his wife Melanie; son, Gary Steven Logan of Pittsburgh, PA and his wife Teresa; their son, Andrew Logan of Richmond, VA; nephew Paul Lee Coleman III and niece Jackie Scott, both of Smyrna, NC; nieces Shelia and Tina Moore, both of Atlanta, GA; and many cousins. A gathering of friends and family will be held at the Stonehouse Residents’ Club, 9701 Mill Pond Run, Toano, VA, 10:00am, Friday, August 23rd. Funeral arrangements are through Nelsen Funeral Home. Her ashes will be interred in Green Hills Cemetery, Asheville, NC. In lieu of flowers, please consider honoring her with a donation to Habitat for Humanity.