Mary Dell (Higginbotham) Heddins

Mrs. Heddins passed away December 10, 2020 in Tyler. She was born May 13, 1939 in the Elm Grove Community to Everett Dewitt and Willie Mae Salters Higginbotham.

Mary was a member of the Good Hope Baptist Church in Edgewood. She grew up in Canton and married Gayther Heddins on May 7, 1955. They were married 61 beautiful years and raised four children.

Mary and Gayther lived in Dallas, Tyler and made their final home in Edgewood. Mary was a stay at home wife and mother to raise their four children. While living in Tyler, Mary started a home business with her sister Peggy, making custom window dressing. After moving home to Edgewood, and all the kids were in high school, she went to work at the Edgewood Dress Factory. Her love of sewing was instilled at a young age, by her Mother. She sewed beautifully and was a perfectionist with every detail. After the dress factory closed, she became a medication aide and began working at Heritage Manor Nursing Home to assist in caring for her mother-in-law.

Mary and Gayther’s love for the mountains carried them to Colorado, Arkansas, Oklahoma. They traveled to San Diego, CA to see their youngest graduate from The United States Marine Corps bootcamp. They loved to travel and took many trips with friends and family. They traveled to The US Virgin Islands to visit their oldest son Billy and his family, to Louisiana with her sister and brother-in-law, to Georgia with her father, sisters and brother to restore an old family cemetery and to visit distant cousins. Mary would take annual “Mother-Daughter” trips with her daughter, Terri; from Washington DC to visit the Smithsonian Museums to Ashville to see the Biltmore, to Salado to blow a beautiful glass flower, to Oklahoma to ride a train, to Jefferson to float a river tour, and many points in between.

Mary loved shopping! She loved jewelry, china tea cups and saucers and buying things for others. She loved to crochet, embroidery, cross stitch, sew beautiful quilts, make jewelry and had recently started doing ceramics again, and many other crafts! She would find a cute craft idea, get the supplies and create.

Mary was a cancer survivor but this didn't hold her back from being a social butterfly who made friends far and wide. She loved lunching and playing cards with her beloved girlfriends. She loved her friends at the Senior Citizens Center in Canton, her TOPS family in Mineola, her church family at Good Hope Baptist church in Edgewood, and she loved her sweet family at the U.S. Renal Care dialysis center in Canton.

Mary was a loving wife, mother, daughter, aunt, sister, friend and GrandMom. She especially enjoyed her grandchildren and great grandchildren. She was respected and admired for her kind and gentle heart, her diverse array of talents and her courage and integrity. Her love of life and generosity of spirit will be missed by all knew and loved her. She will be greatly missed.

Mrs. Heddins is preceded in death by her parents, Everett and Willie Mae Higginbotham; husband, Gayther; two sons: Billy and Kevin; grandson, Cody England; brother, John "Buddy" Higginbotham; and brothers-in-law: Charles Willis, David Ashmore and R.L. Vickery; and great-nephew, Sam Harrison.

Mary is survived by her son, Tommy Heddin; daughter and son-in-law, Terri and Scott Baker; daughter-in-law, Cathy Heddin; grandchildren; Nicholas Grabbs (Christine), Patrick Grabbs, Andrew Grabbs, Haley Heddin, Billy Heddin, Cheree Kirkwood (Darren), Jennifer Farnsworth (Johnathon) ; great-grandchildren; Savannah Grabbs, James Grabbs, Clementine Grabbs, Blakely Williams, Paisley Williams, Adison Kirkwood, Riley Kirkwood, Jaden Farnsworth, Jordan Farnsworth, Jaycee Farnworth, Jamison Farnsworth; and three sisters: Alma and Jerry Cornwell, Ruth Willis and Peggy Ashmore, and many nieces and nephews.

Pallbearers are Andrew Grabbs, Nicholas Grabbs, Jamie Wilkerson, Danny Ayers, Palmer Scott and Jackie Scott.

Visitation will be one hour prior to the service. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to www.kidneyfund.org.

The family would love to hug all of you that show your love and prayers, but now is not the time. They will hold on dearly to your thoughts and prayers. Masks and social distancing is required during the service, if this is not possible they would appreciate your prayers from home.