Mary Jean Yates

Mary Jean Smith Yates, daughter of the late Bewel Bezell and Gertrude Hall Smith and wife of Charles Henry Yates, Jr., died Thursday, February 20, 2014 peacefully at her home. Burial will be private at Riverside Cemetery. Services will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, February 22 at Mulberry Street United Methodist Church where she was an active member for more than 60 years. The Reverend Tommy Mason and the Reverend Creede Hinshaw will officiate. The family will greet friends at Snow’s Memorial Chapel on Friday, February 21 from 5 to 7 p.m. and following the memorial service in the church parlor.

In lieu of flowers, the family has requested that donations be made to the charity of the donor’s choice.

Mrs. Yates was born in Macon on March 19, 1929. She attended A. L. Miller High School and graduated from Mercer University in 1950 where she was a member of Phi Mu sorority.

Together since high school where Mrs. Yates was his ROTC sponsor, she married Charles Henry Yates, Jr., her husband of 62 years, in 1951. They spent their entire married life in Macon where they lovingly raised their family of three daughters. During this time, in addition to being a devoted wife and mother, Mrs. Yates tirelessly donated her time and efforts to her community. She loved being a Maconite and enjoyed participating in numerous social, civic and religious activities. Mrs. Yates was particularly active at her alma mater, Mercer University, where she served on their Board of Trustees for five years. Additionally, she served a term as the secretary of the Alumni Association and also chaired the Women’s Division of Mercer’s capital funds drive. Mrs. Yates unselfishly gave her time, her energy and her personality to Mercer and was a recipient of their Algenon Sydney Sullivan Award.

Mrs. Yates served on many boards during her volunteer career, including the Macon Arts Alliance and the Museum of Arts and Sciences where she also served as Guild President and a member of the Fine Arts Committee. She was a past President of the Panhellenic Council for Phi Mu, a member of the Nathaniel Macon chapter of the DAR, the Sidney Lanier Chapter of the UDC, Morning Music Club, Hill and Dale Garden Club and her beloved bridge club with whom she published the cookbook, Table Talk among many other groups and organizations. Mrs. Yates also served as a member of the Coliseum Authority during the restoration of the City Auditorium. During her years as a member at Mulberry Street UMC, she held many positions including former Superintendent of the Youth Division.

All who knew her knew of her love of travel. Mrs. Yates and her husband were fortunate to travel all over the world during the course of their marriage. She was always eager to share this love of travel with her children and grandchildren and generously arranged and accompanied them to countless destinations in many different countries.

This love of adventure and travel led her to write a travel column for several years in the Macon Telegraph. As an extension of this column, Mrs. Yates created “Faces in the Crowd” for Macon Magazine which chronicled many social and civic events in the life of her hometown.

Mrs. Yates is survived by her husband, Charles Yates; daughters, Avan Moore and her husband, Jimmy, Jeanna Wright, Julie Yates; one granddaughter, Sarah Elizabeth Hammond; three grandsons, Robert Alfred McCormick, Charles Yates McCormick and Thomas Moore McCormick; one step granddaughter, Haviland Houston Moore and her loving caregiver, Brenda Richardson.

Visit snowsmacon.com to express condolences.

Snow’s Memorial Chapel Funeral and Cremation Services, Cherry Street, has charge of arrangements.