Mary Ann Wilson died Friday, January 1, 2021, at Baptist Memorial Hospital in Columbus, MS. In keeping with Covid risks and precautions, there will be a service at 10:00 a.m. at the Funeral Home. The Reverend Stephen Bittick will be officiating. Burial will be at Byhalia Cemetery.
Mary Ann was born November 8, 1924, in Byhalia to the late William Presley and Josephine Walker Stanback. She received her B.S. at MUW (then MSCW) in elementary education and then her master’s degree in library science from the University of Mississippi. She taught in various towns in Mississippi as well as traveling abroad to teach in Germany and Newfoundland before returning to Byhalia to continue her career as a teacher and school librarian.
She married the late Reverend Don Leet Wilson in 1973. Don served as pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Byhalia, as well as in Lamar and other communities. Mary Ann fully supported Don’s ministry by attending multiple services each Sunday and typing the weekly church bulletins year after year. After finishing with her school career, she turned her energies to being a homemaker. She provided countless prized memories for her nieces and nephews when they came to visit. She treasured her family, treating her nieces and nephews as if they were her own children, and then she continued the tradition with their children.
Mary Ann was very active in the local Bridge Club, Garden Club, Audubon Society, and MUW Alumni Association. Intensely dedicated to her family, she loved genealogy and took seriously her role as family historian. Mary Ann was the last Stanback sibling, preceded in death by her brothers Bill, Charlie, and her sister Jo. Her nephew Charles Stanback, Jr. also preceded her in death.
Since Don passed in August of 2017, Mary Ann has lived in Trinity Assisted Living in Columbus. Her family has been blessed to be able to spend more time with her since she relocated.
She is survived by her nephews John and Brad Stanback and niece Janet Stanback Austin, all of Columbus as well as nephew Bob Humphrey of Petoskey, Michigan and niece Ann Boughn of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.