Mary Ellie Hollingsworth

Mary Ellie Harrison Hollingsworth passed away Friday, September 15, 2023. A visitation will be held Monday, September 18, 2023, from 5:00pm to 8:00pm at Ott and Lee Funeral Home, Forest, Mississippi. A second visitation will be held on Tuesday, September 19, 2023, at 10:00am prior to the 11:00am service at Sharon Primitive Baptist Church, Lake, Mississippi.  A short internment service will follow. Officiating the service will be Bro. Joe Curry Evans.

Mary Ellie was born on July 4, 1922, in Scott County, MS, the youngest of ten, to her parents Larry and Allie Harrison. Mary Ellie walked to her one room schoolhouse to obtain her elementary education, and then attended Homewood High School. At the age of 17, Mary Ellie married the love of her life, Floyd Hollingsworth on December 3, 1939. They had 28 wonderful years together before Floyd passed in 1967. Their daughter, Delores and her son in law Phillip Harris, moved back in with her, where they raised their son, P. Shawn Harris. Mary Ellie lived 56 years without the love of her life, and she enjoyed reminiscing of her physician’s disbelief that she never remarried. Her response, “I got mine the first time. And plus, I had too much to worry about, I had Delores, in and out of the hospital, I had Shawn, and the chicken houses, and the garden. I didn’t need anything else.”

During her early married years, Mary Ellie stayed home and worked at the Newton Company, a sewing factory, while Floyd served in World War II. Amid working and raising her family, she enjoyed her labors of her flower and vegetable garden, cooking, and quilting. She was active in the Scott County Homemaker’s Club and the Scott County Gardening Club, where she won several awards for her handmade quilts.

Mary Ellie was a resident of the Goodhope Community for 84 years. She was a member of Sharon Primitive Baptist Church, where she attended every service, rain, sleet, or shine, until her 101st year.

She is preceded in death by her husband Floyd Hollingsworth, her daughter and son in law, Delores and Phillip Harris and infant child, Geraldine, Peggy Judge Edwards Jones, who she raised as her own, as well as her parents, Larry and Allie Harrison, her nine siblings, Percy Harrison, Sally Harrison Johnston, Nellie Harrison Weger, Lothar Harrison, James Harrison, Lyles Harrison, Mattie Ola Harrison Culpepper, Will Harrison, and Ausben Harrison. 

She is survived by her grandson, P. Shawn Harris (Rebecca), great grandchildren, John Thomas Harris (Kaelon), Katlyn Harris Henning (Terry), Claire Harris Churchill (Nick), and great, great grandchildren Brooks and Ellie Hayes Harris (John Thomas and Kaelon). She also has a wealth of nieces and nephews who meant the world to her. 

Mary Ellie was known by most everyone as “Granny.”  Her kitchen table was always open to anyone and everyone. Her home became the location of Hollingsworth Thanksgiving Reunion lunch for fifty plus years, hosting numerous members of the Harrison and Hollingsworth family. She kept a one acre planted flower garden, where she hosted many birthday parties, weddings, and easter egg hunts.  Everyone in the community knew Granny for her green thumb.  “Granny’s Garden” was a popular place for portraits or walks underneath the shade trees. Even in her 90’s and on the hottest day, there was no need for knocking, Granny could most always be found outside on her lawnmower, carrying salt blocks to her cows, cutting her grass or the church’s. Even at the age of 100, she could be found filling her gas can, walking through the grocery store, or getting her hair done every Friday.

Granny enjoyed picking her great grandchildren up from the bus stop every afternoon for 10 plus years, taking them to lessons of all sorts, from ball to piano in her Honda Odessey adorned with her favorite red “beef” tag. She continued to keep great grandchildren throughout the summers where she taught them the very labors she knew and loved, from farming and preserving to cooking the very crops she grew.

As the matriarch of the family, Granny’s humble words of wisdom were sought after in all times of life. Her calm, level-headed demeanor directed the ways of many friends and family that surrounded her.

For 101 years Granny worked harder than most able-bodied people could even hope to, and she spent every day caring for others before herself. She was, in every way, “Thy Good and Faithful Servant”. A woman who farmed and gardened and did an amazing job at everything she did; a woman who loved the Lord and her family and loved them well; and a woman who wasn’t afraid of leaving this old world.

Pall Bearers will be Bill Freeman, Wesley Ellis, Terry Henning, Nick Churchill, Lamar Harrison, Zach Edwards.

Honorary Pall Bearers are the women who meant so much to Granny in her lifetime and those who took care of her in her extended illness.  Betty Hollingsworth, Connie Hollingsworth, Pam Hollingsworth Blissett, Virginia Weger Brown, Becky Culpepper Noel, and Debbie Culpepper Kazary. 

OTT & LEE Funeral Home is honored to serve the Hollingsworth family.