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Mary Catherine "Mollie" Stewart
Mrs.
M. C. Stewart Passes Away After Lingering Illness. Services for
Respected Buncombe Woman Held Last Saturday, June 1
The
funeral of Mrs. Mollie Stewart held at Mt. Zion church at 11 a.m.,
Saturday, June 1 was attended by a host of her relatives and friends
from far and near. Rev. Hobart Peterson of Dongola conducted the
services assisted by the local pastor, Rev. Charles B. Taylor, and Rev.
E. R. Steagall of Ozark and G. E. Slavens of Brownfield, with music by
the Wilson Quartet of Karnak and Mrs. Velma McHenry accompanying (sic),
of Buncombe. Casket bearers were: I. W. Stewart, Almus Downing, Lem
Stewart, Arvil Stout and Ernest Stewart. Flowers were carried by
Juanita Stout, Marybell Soper, Katherine Elkins, Bonnie Lou Rich and
Fayetta Elkins. Interment followed at Mt. Zion cemetery.
The
following obituary was read by Rev. Taylor;
Mary
C. Stewart
Our
natures differ like the woodland flowers. Why? We do not know. “Let
thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live . . . Get
wisdom, get understanding: forget it not,” so runs the ancient proverb.
And the poet, grieving for the friend lost to him, peers afar:
“Immortal Love, whom we, that have not seen thy face, by faith, and
faith alone, embrace, believing where we cannot prove.”
Mary
Catherine (McGinnis) Stewart was born near Samoth in Massac county,
Illinois, on February 25, 1876 departed this life from the home of her
daughter at Mt. Zion, near Buncombe, at 3:00 a.m., Thursday, May 30,
1940. She was aged 64 years, 3 months and 5 days.
She
was the eldest child and only daughter born to her parents, Daniel P.
and Narcissa (Shelton) McGinnis, both deceased. Surviving are four
brothers: John W. of Reevesville; W. Burnett of Carbondale; Charles A.
of Pontiac, and Walter D. of Reevesville. One brother, George, passed
away in youth.
In
the year 1898, she was married to J. Wesley Browning, who passed away in
May 1899, at Buncombe, where he was establishing a mercantile business
with the plating of the town. One daughter, Jeanette Soper of Vienna was
born the following July.
She
was again married in 1901, to James M. Stewart of Buncombe, who passed
away in December, 1935. Of their union one daughter, Dovie, wife of
George D. Stout of Mt. Zion was born. Also surviving is one
step-daughter, Edith Stewart, wife of Samuel F. Elkins of Buncombe. She
leaves six grandchildren: Harlan, Roy, Marybelle and Jimmy Soper,
Juanita and George Oscar Stout, also seven step-grandchildren.
Mollie, as she was familiarly known, had written in her Bible in the
third person: “Was converted at the age of 14 years and joined the
Missionary Baptist church at old Ebenezer in Johnson county, afterward
moving her membership to Mt. Zion near Buncombe.”
Between the setting sun and its rising, the silent hand has taken out of
our family group one of its cherished complements, leaving only a
vacancy that only her presence could fill. Mollie Stewart was a capable
woman, worthy in her sphere of home- maker, in business, and in affairs
of her church. She leaves a host of friends to long remember her for
deeds of kindness. Lord, grant us the grace to ponder deep thy
mysteries, the wish to better understand, the faith to believe beyond
the pale of knowledge. Peace to her memory.
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