Mary Bray Wheeler, age 80 of Murfreesboro, TN. passed away on December 25, 2022. She was born in Atlanta, GA to the late Orion James and Hattie Frances Bray. In addition to her parents, she is preceded in death by James Eddie Wheeler, Jr., James Eddie Wheeler, III (son), and sister Saye (Grady) Fleming.
If you knew her, then you are the only one who knows what she was to you. This is the person I knew.
She was a devout Presbyterian. Her faith in God and her church families were woven into her life. There was no place where one began and the other ended. Her desire to please God with her life and service was the only constant thing I can remember over an entire lifetime.
She was a child. Grew up on a farm just outside of Atlanta, attended high school, and started college there.
She was a wife. She married and moved to Nashville in the early 1960’s to start a family and a new life with her husband. Arriving in Nashville with a desire to join a church, she became a member of Glencliff Presbyterian Church in Nashville. There she planted roots and began the rest of her life.
She was a mother to three children. One, she helped nurse to health for two continuous years! Then, as a single mother of 3, in the 1970’s, without a college degree (yet), she somehow found a way to make it work. One day at a time. I still marvel at how in the world she was able to get us all to adulthood – but, she did. Amazing.
She was a Grandmary. For most of the names below this is how she is known. She was known to tell stories, watch movies, read, play dolls, and gave everyone a birthday card with a one dollar bill for each year. Never too old to have a calling card!
She was an author. She wrote and co-wrote with her writing partner Genon Hickerson Neblett. They collaborated on titles such as Chosen Exile, Hidden Glory, and Eugenia Price’s South. These works, and their research, took her to St. Simons Island among many other places in the southeast. These places were dear to her heart, but none more so than “the island”. St. Simon’s Island, the home of Eugenia Price, was a pilgrimage for her throughout her life. She served for five years as the Vice President of the Eugenia Price/Joyce Knight Blackburn Charitable Foundation, starting in 2017.
She was an editor, publisher, and storyteller. As an English and Drama student at Mercer University, she identified her abilities and interest in writing, editing, history, and publishing. She would take those skills and put them to use in a career that spanned 30 years working for companies and organizations including Thomas Nelson, The American Association of State and Local History, Rutledge Hill Press, and Providence House Publishers.
She was all of these things and many others. But, whatever she was, wherever you encountered her, you would always know her by her faith in God.
Ms. Wheeler is survived by her children, Shannon (Davalynn) Wheeler and Marilisa (Wheeler) McCaskill; grandchildren, Mary Elizabeth, Britney, Briana, Braxton, Julian, Aubrey, Jackson, great-grandson, Malachi; nephews, Chip and Matt. She was cared for lovingly by a number of special angels including Holly Morgan, Carmen Alvarado, Carol Elliott, and Lindsay Garrett.
Services will be held on Saturday, January 21st, 2023. Ms. Wheeler will be interred in the Memorial Columbarium at First Presbyterian Church, surrounded by family at 1:30 P.M. A memorial service will be held at 2:00 P.M. at First Presbyterian Church of Murfreesboro, with reception to follow.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Ms. Wheeler’s memory to:
- Still Waters Ministry – stillwatersfamilyministries.com
- Historic Preservation Fund – Historic Preservation Fund (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)
- First Presbyterian Church of Murfreesboro For Care Ministry Team – mborofpc.org
