Family graveside services for Mary Harding Loftin Wilson, a resident of McKendree Village, a native of Nashville, and widow of Van Buren Wilson, will be conducted at 11 AM Wednesday at Rose Hill Cemetery. Higgins Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. Mrs. Wilson collapsed on March 25th while doing what she loved-playing the organ in McKendree chapel in a service for others. She never recovered consciousness and after a few days, fighting valiantly, left this life for a better one on April 2, 2010.
She was a lifetime resident of the Nashville area. Born in Nashville on April 24, 1920 to Harry Walker Loftin and Ruth Mincy Loftin, she attended Turner Grammar School. Palmer Grammar School and Central High School before receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree from Judson College in Marion, Alabama, majoring in piano and theatrical music and minoring in sociology. Following her graduation, she was offered a job as a ticket agent at Union Station- a job that normally would have been given to a man, had it not been wartime. She worked there for 25 years and while there met her future husband, Van B. Wilson, whom she married on July 23, 1946 and who predeceased her on April 18, 1988.
Together with her husband, she was among the charter members of Old Hickory Golf Club, and was an avid golfer and member of the Old Hickory Ladies 18-hole Golf Association. She and her husband were lifetime members of the City Road Methodist Church and within the church were the charter members of the Hayes Sunday School Class. Until her death, she played for some City Road church services, counted money for the church, and attended Sunday school there.
In 1988, Mary moved into one of the independent living cottages at McKendree Village and began another chapter in her life devoted to serving others. She became actively involved in the Cottage Council, McKendree Village Board of Directors meetings, cottage marketing, playing the organ for Sunday chapel services, and many other volunteer activities such as the Clothes Closet. At City Road Methodist Church, she assisted all segments of the ministry with her organ services and with the Maybelle Carter Senior Adult Community hymn sing.
She is survived by her step-daughter Martha Wilson Morrison and husband Col. (ret) Robert C. Morrison, both of Irvington, Virginia, two grandsons James Robert Morrison, wife Debbie, and two great-grandchildren all of Prince George, Virginia, and John Wilson Morrison, wife Nancy of Robbinsville, North Carolina, two great-granddaughters, and one great-great-granddaughter.
She is also survived by an aunt, Richard Loftin, age 103, of McKendree Village, nephew Robert Loftin and wife Judi of Indianapolis, Indiana and three children, and David Ward, husband of de3ceased niece Anita Loftin Ward of Greenville, South Carolina, and four children.
A memorial service will be held Tuesday, April 6 at 2 PM at the chapel in McKendree Village, followed by a reception. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the McKendree Village Foundation Golden Cross Fund, at McKendree Village, 4343 Lebanon Pike, Hermitage, TN 37076.