Her most exciting and memorable times in life were in the household she shared with her family. She saw nieces and nephews grow from babies to teens than to adults and shared some bar knowledge with them along the way. She greeted everyone with a smile, a hug, or on a few occasions, an opportunity to cuss you out.  Mary intuitively knew when someone needed a kind word or just a warm motherly hug, and she provided with an open heart.

You never had to guess what was on her mind on how proud she was of her family because she would tell you or wear it on a t-shirt.  She proudly displayed her love and affection for her two granddaughters and six great grandchildren.  To ensure she would not miss out on life's important moments, she learned all about social media accounts. Mary was so full of life that one Facebook page was not enough to the point that one may have suspected that her Facebook account was hacked because of the many accounts she created.

In 2002 Mary's journey became altered by the news of her having stage 4 Breast Cancer.  She was not about to let that be the end of her story.  After treatment and remission, she was determined to live her life her way.  She was so stubborn not to let her diagnosis be the final walk that she gave her family, not 18 weeks nor 18 months but 18 years of laugher, wisdom, joy, and spirit.

On December 28th, 2020, the sun set on her journey, and now she is resting in peace. She is preceded by her mother, father, husband, baby daughter, the youngest son, two sisters, and one brother.

Mary is lovingly survived by her son, Lawrence; two brothers: Robert and Fay Howard; one sister, Valarie; two granddaughters: Sabrina and Marcina; six great-grandchildren: Derrick Jr., Dawson, Dallas, Breyanna, Jameer, and Jewel; as well as a host of nieces, nephews, great-nieces, and nephews.