Mary Pearl Hayes Foster

October 12, 1918 - August 5, 2010

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Mrs. Mary Pearl Foster, 91, a resident of the Stiversville community, died Thursday, August 5, 2010, at her home.

Funeral Services for Mrs. Foster will be conducted on Sunday, August 8, 2010 at 3:30 p.m. in the chapel of Heritage Funeral Home with Dr. Barry Farris and Bro. Ricky Clay officiating. Burial will follow in Glenwood Cemetery. The family will visit with friends on Saturday, August 7, 2010 from 4:00 " 8:00 p.m. at the funeral home, and on Sunday, August 8, 2010 from 2:00 p.m. until time of service.

Born October 12, 1918 to Pearl Brunson (Cross) and Rufus Campbell Hayes when times were hard, Mary Pearl Hayes was the eighth of ten children. She graduated in 1936 from Culleoka High School with two other girls. She attended the Old Campbell Station School that was a few yards from her parents home for her elementary years. The school closed and everyone transferred to Culleoka School. She rode in a horse and buggy to school until one day a neighbor made a home-made school bus for the children to have a way to school.

In 1941, she married her sweetheart and best friend, the late Clovis Whitfield Foster, Sr. They have two children; a son, Clovis (Betty) Foster, Jr. and a daughter, Glenna Ruth (Bobby) Thurman. Mary Pearl was a good wife, mother, grandmother, and sister. She was a homemaker, and a stay-at-home mom. She loved to cook, sew, garden, can and freeze food for the winter. Mrs. Foster was always helping around the Culleoka School as a room mother, PTA member, and such. For many years, she belonged to the Stiversville Home Demonstration Club.

The church was a large part of her life. She was baptized in a creek at Campbell Station before she married. She was a Christian, and an active member of the Stiversville Church of Christ. At church, she kept the attendance book, ordered congregational flowers for the sick and deaths of the church. In her later years, she and her husband would go to the evening service early to sweep the carpet. She fed the preachers many times throughout the years sometimes expectedly, and sometimes unexpectedly. She was always able to scratch up something good to eat. Mary Pearls door was always open. She visited the sick, shut-ins, and nursing homes on a regular basis until her and Mr. Fosters health declined, and they too, became shut-ins.

She loved her children, grandchildren, and their children very much. The grandchildren always enjoyed going to Granny Fosters. They knew they would always have something good to eat, and she would go out with them to watch them play ball in the front yard. She loved to play the piano, and on occasion, she would sit at her piano and play them a tune.

Mrs. Foster is survived by a son, Clovis (Betty) Foster, Jr. and a daughter, Glenna Ruth (Bobby) Thurman; grandchildren, Celia (Kenneth) Owens, Randy (April) Thurman, Clovis Skip (Tracey) Foster, III, Caroline (Greg) McNeese, Glen (Colleen) Thurman; great-grandchildren, Cassie (Brent) McCandless, Hayley Foster, Jordan McNeese, Justin McNeese, Cody Thurman, Amanda (Josh) Rosen, Tanner Thurman; five great-great grandchildren, Jackson and Cayden McCandless, Chandler and McKenzie Ruth Rosen, Jayden Ford; three step great-grandchildren, Breanna Senter, Kandance Blackwell, and Kayla Cadrin; a brother, Jack (Wilma) Hayes; a brother-in-law, J. B. Goldman; several nieces and nephews; Special caregivers, lovingly Helen White, Peggy Sullivan, and Rena (Sissy) Isabell. She was preceded in death by a great grandchild, Clint Owens.

Pallbearers will be Randy Thurman, Skip Foster, Glen Thurman, Kenneth Owens, Greg McNeese, Justin McNeese, Tanner Thurman, Cody Thurman, Josh Rosen, Brent McCandless, Mike Carter and Larry Turner. Honorary Pallbearers will be the men and women of the Stiversville Church of Christ, friends at the mall, and J. O. Thurman.

The family would like to thank Dr. Shawn Gentry, Care-all Health, and Hospice Caris Healthcare.

Memorials may be made to Highland Church of Christ Building Fund, 497 E. James Campbell Blvd., Columbia, TN 38401 or Stiversville Church of Christ, c/o Larry Benderman, 3837 Pulaski Highway, Culleoka, TN 38451.

Mrs. Foster leaves you with this message: Live for today. God made this day for you, so give that smile and happiness away; this day wont come again.

Condolences may be sent to the family at www.heritage-fhcs.com.