Mary Jean Butler (née House) died the morning of Thursday, July 28, 2022, in Memphis, Tennessee.

She was born on December 2, 1934, in Waterford, Mississippi, to Mary Fay (née Johnson) and Claude Wesley House. Her family settled in Bartlett, Tennessee when she was a child. Mary Jean excelled in academics, and she played clarinet for the marching band and basketball for the girls’ team before graduating from Bartlett High School in 1951 at the age of sixteen. She went on to graduate from the Baptist School of Nursing in 1954. After decades of selfless and devoted service to sick children, Mary Jean retired from St. Jude Children’s Hospital in Memphis and re-settled in Waterford. There, her days were full of playing basketball with her grandchildren in the driveway, harvesting heaps of vegetables from the garden, caring for a constantly revolving line-up of unruly dogs, and exterminating any snakes unlucky enough to come within striking distance of a rake.

She was active in the Waterford community and frequently volunteered to work the polls at election time. She was a devout Christian and dutiful attendant at Spring Hill Baptist Church, where she volunteered in the Awana Youth Ministry, Woman’s Missionary Union, and the church choir.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Walter Joe, and her son, Walter Glen. She is survived by her daughter, Ann Butler Stavropoulos of Memphis, Tennessee, her son, Claude Wayne Butler of Acworth, Georgia, and her daughter, Emily Butler Groce of Memphis, Tennessee; her grandchildren, Drew Stavropoulos (Atina), Max Groce, Kenneth Groce, and Peyton Butler; and her great grandchildren, Jack and Luke Stavropoulos.

Remembrances for Mary Jean will be conducted on Monday, August 1, 2022, at Holly Springs Funeral Home, with in-person visitation from 11 am to 1 pm, followed by services at 1 pm. The burial service will be conducted thereafter at Spring Hill Baptist Church of Waterford, Mississippi.