At an early age, too young to even have a driver’s license, she went to work full-time in the mill to care for her brothers and sisters. Ever since their childhood, the Simpson siblings have clung to each other with a rare and special bond as they have loved, laughed, celebrated, and grieved as a FAMILY in the purest sense of the word.
Beautiful Mary Ellen married the young and handsome M.C. Carriker after he returned from fighting in WWII. They had six children over seventeen years. Mary worked in the family garden raising fresh vegetables and cooked three incredible meals a day for her family. She spent many nights shelling butter peas and stringing half runner green beans. She was also gifted at sewing and made gorgeous clothes for her children and grandchildren.
Mary didn’t rely on words to say I Love You. Love, to her, was always a verb, an action. She spent her life doing love. If there was a need in her family or with a friend, she quietly met it, no need for attention or affirmation. She loved in a true, selfless, and practical way.
Mary was passionate about sports. She faithfully followed the Braves and the Tarheels through good and bad seasons. She wanted her teams to win big though. She liked a blow-out, and she could hardly watch UNC play Duke. She was not emotionally expressive generally, but a Carolina/Duke game could rile her.
Mary developed a drive for physical fitness later in life that started with water aerobics at the Simons YMCA. She also walked miles a day well into her eighties, including up and down stairs and through the woods, despite the pleadings of her children to be careful. Mary kept her body strong through exercise and her mind sharp by reading book after book for as long as she could. She held fast to her dignity and independence.
Mary experienced the loss of her parents, Valda and John Simpson; her brothers, Roy and T.J. Simpson; and her sisters, Ruby Lee Richards, Louise Cochrane, and Judy Jackson; two stillborn baby boys; and her husband, M.C. Carriker. Now she will be greatly missed by her sisters, Gladys Dulin and Beattie Knowles; her brother, Brady Simpson; as well as her children, John, Carol, Richard, Marie, Lisa, and Patti; her grandchildren, Amy, Laura, Lindsay, Harrison, April, Casey, Meredith, Hannah, and Graham; and great grandchildren, Noah, Katelyn, Ivan, Hamilton, and James. Mary’s legacy of fortitude, humility, selflessness, and love will continue to flow through these who loved her so much.
Friends are cordially invited to a visitation with the family from 10:00 until 11:00 am Monday, November 19, at McEwen Funeral Service, Mint Hill Chapel, 7428 Matthews-Mint Hill Road in Mint Hill, with a funeral service to immediately follow at 11:00 am in the funeral home chapel. Entombment will be held at 2:00 pm in Sunset Memory Gardens Mausoleum.
If desired, please make donations to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation.
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