Mary Lewis (Myatt) (Butler) Casey, age 84, died peacefully on the morning of June 3, 2020 at Allen Morgan Health and Rehabilitation Center in Memphis, TN. Mary Lewis was loved by husbands Jerry Butler and Norman Casey, and by her children Mary Lane (Casey) Campbell of Birmingham, AL, Devereaux (Susan) Butler of East Grand Rapids, MI, and Graham (Florentina) Butler of Staunton, VA. She departs from her beloved six (6) grandchildren - Mary Emma and Samuel Campbell, Robert, William, Myatt, and Hardy Butler. She also leaves behind her dearest sister - Martha Myatt Hooper of Brownsville as well as the remaining members of her “lunch bunch” and countless others who loved and admired her.
Born in Huntsville, Alabama in 1935 to Lewis & Mary Sanford Myatt, Mary Lewis called Birmingham home until 1951 when the family moved to Memphis. There she attended East High School and met the love of her life and first husband, Jerry Butler. Mary Lewis graduated from Southwestern at Memphis (Rhodes College) in 1957, married Jerry, and after living in Alexandria, Philadelphia, and Glencoe Illinois—she settled with her family in Memphis. She loved Emmanuel Methodist Church where she attended for over 40 years and served in leadership positions. Mary Lewis was a proud member of CAR, DAR, Chi Omega Sorority, and other local civic organizations.
Mary Lewis loved and fought for children. With grace, integrity, and a quiet determination that only “a proper southern lady” could meld together, Mary Lewis became a national award-wining Director of the Child Development Center Baptist Memorial Hospital, the Director of Calvary Place Child Care Center at Calvary Episcopal Church, and served—at appointment of Gov. McWherter—on a statewide taskforce for early education reform.
Mom- thank you for unwavering support, ballgames, meals, band-aids, table manners, ad-hoc lessons in grammar, raisin muffins, and brown bag lunches (love notes included.) Thank you for showing us how to live by treating every human being equally and with sincere and loving decency. You made your mark and the world is a better place having had you in it. Well done and go rest.
In lieu of flowers, please make any donation to either Emmanuel United Methodist Church (Memphis) or the Parkinson’s Foundation at parkinson.org.
Funeral arrangements are entrusted to Memphis Funeral Home, 5599 Poplar Ave., Memphis, TN 38119.
