Mary Eleanor Harris Lynch Hardy,age 89, formerly of Water Valley, MS, passed away on Friday, June 29, 2007 in Atlanta, GA. For 25 years Mary Eleanor Hardy taught in the Shelby County School System. Mrs. Hardy taught at Millington Central Elementary and was a pioneer in the integration of schools at Barrett’s Chapel Elementary School. At Barrett’s Chapel she served as a reading teacher, math teacher and counselor under a federal program.
She was born in Water Valley, MS in 1917, daughter of attorney John Lynn Harris and Eleanor Bradford Duke Harris. Both served in the Mississippi State Legislature. Mrs. Hardy was also the stepdaughter of Mr. Leon Guy (L.G.) Dean of Shaw, MS. She was Water Valley's Watermelon Queen 1933 at age 15. Mrs. Hardy died in Atlanta, Georgia where she recently moved with her husband, Charles Francis Hardy, to live in an assisted living residence. She had Alzheimer’s disease.
Her life will be celebrated at Calvary Episcopal Church in Memphis on Thursday, July 5, 2007 at 10:00 AM. Her burial will follow in Oak Hill Cemetery in Water Valley, MS at 3:00 PM.
Mary Eleanor attended Mississippi State College for Women (MSCW) and was graduated with a B.A. from Delta State where she was the only married female student. She and John Francis Lynch, Jr. from Syracuse, New York married in 1939 in Shaw, MS.
The Lynches moved to Sasebo, Japan during the American Occupation where Mr. Lynch was the American Red Cross Field Director. There she continued study of the piano and began the study of Japanese flower arranging. They returned stateside to Memphis Naval Air Station in Millington, Tennessee where she engaged in volunteer work for the ARC and raised their two children. She began her teaching career in 1955 and retired in 1980.
Mr. Lynch died in July, 1963. While continuing her teaching career, Mrs. Hardy earned a Master’s Degree from the University of Memphis in Educational Administration and Supervision and was an active member of Delta Kappa Gamma, an honorary educational sorority.
Mrs. Hardy was an avid lover of music and art, serving in continuous volunteer capacities with the Brooks Museum League, the Memphis Symphony League and the Wonders Exhibit Program. She volunteered in every exhibit from its inception until her health precluded her further participation.
After 30 years a widow, she married widower Charles F. Hardy in her daughter’s home in Potomac, Maryland in 1993. The Hardy’s made their home in Memphis, TN, where Mr. Hardy was retired as an executive with the Wise Company.
Mrs. Hardy was a communicant at Calvary Episcopal Church in Memphis since the mid-1970’s where she was a member of St. Margaret’s Circle and a regular volunteer with the Lenten Waffle Shop.
Survivors include: her husband, Charles Francis Hardy of Atlanta, Georgia; her son, John Francis Lynch, III of Saratoga, CA; her daughter, The Rev. Eleanor L. Ellsworth of Del Mar, CA; and grandchildren Scott Bradford Lynch of Redwood City, CA; Brian Michael Lynch of San Diego, CA; John Saylor Dempster, III of Bethesda, MD; and Sara Duke Biscoe of Washington, DC. Great grandchildren survivors include: Teaghan Anne Lynch, Maeve Kathleen Lynch and John Saylor Dempster, IV of Bethesda, MD. Richard Egan Hardy of Atlanta, GA is her surviving step-son; William McMaster Biscoe of Miami, FL, Katherine Hardy Culver of Atlanta, GA and Allison Elizabeth Hardy of Chicago, IL, are surviving step-grandchildren.
In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by six brothers; Gerald Harris, John Lynn Harris, Jr., Ed Harris, William E. Harris, Duke Harris and Frank Harris.
The family requests that memorials be directed either to Calvary Episcopal Church, 102 North Second Street, Memphis, TN 38103 or to Alzheimer’s Day Services of Memphis, Grashot Center, P.O. Box 280027, Memphis, TN 38128-0027.