Mary Tucker

Mary Ruth Clark Tucker, 81, passed away Mon. Dec. 20, 2021 at the Brandon Court Nursing Home in Brandon, MS. Visitation will be held on Thurs. Dec. 23, 2021 from 1pm-1:45pm at Ott & Lee Funeral Home in Brandon, MS. Funeral Services are 2pm on Thurs. Dec. 23, 2021 at the Ott & Lee Funeral Home Chapel with burial to follow in the Crestview Memorial Gardens in Brandon, MS.

Mary was born at home in Tallahatchie County, Mississippi, to Gip and Vorena Clark, who were sharecroppers raising mostly cotton. She was born on January 22, 1940, the second of six children.

She graduated from West Tallahatchie High School in 1957 and immediately enrolled in nurse’s training at Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis. She graduated from the School of Nursing in June 1960, becoming a registered nurse (RN) and began her nursing career at Baptist Memorial Hospital.

In December 1960, she married high school classmate Walter Tucker who was in the U.S. Air Force stationed at Roswell, New Mexico, at the time. She went to work at a Catholic Hospital in Roswell until Walter completed his Air Force enlistment and then they moved to Clarksdale, Mississippi. For the rest of her career she nursed at hospitals in Clarksdale, Greenwood, Meridian, and Brandon, and a doctor’s office in Meridian. She retired in 1998 as night supervisor at Rankin Memorial Hospital.

When not working as a nurse, she could be found in the kitchen cooking many delicious items for which she was very well known. Her Hawaiian bread recipe was requested by many, but she was asked what ingredient she had left off when theirs was not as good as hers.

She also liked to tell stories about picking cotton and the weeks of school that were missed until her father bought a single row cotton picker. The purchase of the cotton picker was so significant that the framed receipt adorns the wall at her brother, Lacey Booth Clark’s, home in Sumner.

Upon her retirement she was the “private duty” nurse for family members including her mother, her mother-in-law, her father-in-law, and other extended family members. She was the “go to” person when any family member wanted a second opinion concerning their health care.

She was preceded in death by her parents, one sister Clara Ophelia Roach, and her daughter, Pamela Jean Tucker.

She is survived by husband Walter, daughter Ginger Tucker, brother Lacey Booth Clark (Martha Ann), sister Dora Sue Ferrell (Bill), brother Billy Gip Clark (Sheila), and brother Hugh Gregory Clark, numerous nieces and nephews, and honorary family members, especially Sharon Howell and Jarred Henry and Ashton Howell, who love Mary and Walter as their very own grandparents and Ginger as the special aunt.

In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to your favorite charity.