Margery Smith Howard (Margie) entered the presence of her Savior on January 7, 2021. She was born in Union, Mississippi on January 31, 1927 in a log cabin built by her great grandfather, one of Mississippi's early settlers, Ibra H. Cleveland. Her family originally landed in North Carolina and were early settlers of East Central Mississippi.
She was Valedictorian of her high school class. She graduated from Blue Mountain College where she was featured in The Mountainer to exemplify charm and character. She was also a part of the Student Government Council and member of the May Court.
She was the daughter of the late Walter Smith and Nan Cleveland Smith of Union, Mississippi. She was preceded in death by her husband, the late Dr. William Templeton Howard, an orthopedic surgeon in Memphis for thirty-eight years. Her beloved only brother, Walter Cleveland Smith, of Dallas, also preceded her in death.
She is survived by daughters, Anne Howard Stark and husband, Steve, of Athens, Texas, Elizabeth Howard Barton and husband, Rick, of Memphis, Tennessee, her son, William Templeton Howard and wife, Sholar, of Lookout Mountain, Tennessee, nine grandchildren: three grandsons and six granddaughters, Andrew Fields, Caroline Parolini, Katie Stark, Christy Barton, Kathleen Bryan, William Howard, Harriet Howard, Agnes Howard, and John Wyatt Howard, and two great grandchildren.
She worked with college students for the Southern Baptist Convention, B.S.U. She was an active member of First Evangelical Church, involved with Bible Study Fellowship, Prayer Hour and taught Sunday School for many years.
She was a student of the Bible. She loved her children and grandchildren and felt it was a real calling that:
"We will tell the next generation.... the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD Even the children yet to be borne."
She loved history, literature, and traveling with her husband, Dr. Howard to distant and beautiful places of the world.
Memorial service is Monday, January 11, 2021 at First Evangelical Church, Memphis. Burial at Ebenezer Cumberland Presbyterian Church, Mason, Tennessee.
The family asks that any memorials be sent to First Evangelical Church, Blue Mountain College or Samaritan's Purse.
