Mary Alice Ward died March 29, 2010, at Southeastern Regional Medical Center.
She was born on July 27, 1917, on a farm outside Burgaw, to Edgar Thomas Batson Sr. and Ola Cobb Batson. She grew up among loving younger brothers and sisters: Eddie, Louise, Beth and Arthur, all of whom preceded her.
As a young farm girl, Mary Alice Batson developed the traits that were to characterize her for 92 years. From her parents, she learned both stoicism and a cheerful optimism to serve as bulwarks against the uncertainties of fate. A favorite childhood memory was the early morning sound of her mother singing happily as she went to collect eggs from the hen house.
The young girl also cultivated the habits of thrift and industry that allowed her to help put her husband through medical school and later to run a frugal household for her husband and four children.
During her childhood, Mary Alice Ward also developed a lifelong love of language and literature, which she indulged in during the fugitive moments away from the manifold tasks required to run a farm household efficiently. Not surprisingly, time in the company of "Little Women" was more alluring than hours canning vegetables on a wood-fired stove or pressing her brothers' white shirts with a primitive iron, especially in the steamy summer heat.
For many years, Mrs. Ward kept a meticulous written record of the thousands of books she had read. Sadly, in recent months her once sharp vision had dimmed, but the loss did not darken her sunny attitude toward life.
During the "Great Depression", Mrs. Ward was able to deploy her disciplined determination and supple ingenuity to graduate from both Campbell College and Meredith College. She was exceedingly grateful for the opportunity to attend both, and for many years she served as a conscientious trustee of Campbell University.
While enrolled at summer school at Wake Forest College, she met Dr. Frank Pelouze Ward of Lumberton. They were married on June 29, 1940. They spent 32 happy years as a couple before Dr. Ward's death in 1972, and his photograph had rested on her bedside table since that time.
The happy couple first lived in Holly Springs, where she taught high school and coached women's basketball, despite her lack of prior exposure to the latter activity. After her husband completed Wake Forest's two-year medical school, the young bride moved with him to Charleston, where he completed the Medical College of South Carolina and she walked long distances to work in a jewelry store.
Following Dr. Ward's internship at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, the couple moved to Lumberton, where the young physician began a practice that endeared him to thousands of grateful patients over the next several decades. A measure of their devotion is reflected in his enduring sobriquet "Doctor Frank," which was both respectful and affectionate. So identified was she with her husband and his practice — she took middle-of-the-night telephone calls when he was making house calls — that Mary Alice Ward became known to many as "Mrs. Doctor Frank."
Mrs. Ward also settled into a busy life in Lumberton, enjoying membership in garden and book clubs and the Daughters of the American Revolution, for which she served as both regent and chaplain. For 62 years, she was also a faithful member of the First Baptist Church of Lumberton.
During the 1950s, community leaders encouraged Mrs. Ward to become a candidate for the Lumberton school board. In that election and several succeeding ones, she was the leading vote getter. As a member, she assisted in the delicate process of smoothly integrating the long-segregated public schools. In part because of her skill in accomplishing this objective, she was honored as Lumberton's Woman of the Year in 1962.
The scope of Mrs. Ward's civic and social activities was all the more remarkable because of the endless hours that she devoted to shaping the lives of her young children: Frank Pelouze Ward Jr. of Raleigh, Mary Alice Farnham of Charlotte, Sarah Margaret Whiteside of Birmingham, Ala., and Kathryn Gray Ward of Pleasantville, N.Y.
In addition to her children, Mrs. Ward is survived by nine adored grandchildren: Frank (Marian) and Victoria Ward; Robert (Lisa), Peter (Samantha) and David Farnham; Penn (Sabine) and Margaret Whiteside; and James and Ann Dyer; and three great-grandchildren, Bobby and Lucy Farnham, and Heinrich Whiteside.
She also leaves her sons-in-law, Robert Farmham, M.D., Penny Whiteside and Scott Dyer; and her sister-in-law, Edith Batson. She treasured the company of Nancy Ruark of Raleigh, who brought her many beautiful flower arrangements, and the host of nieces and nephews, who called her "Aunt Sister."
The arc of Mrs. Ward's life was astonishing, and her adaptability remarkable. As a child she was baptized in the northeast branch of the Cape Fear River and attended Riverside Baptist Church that her father built on his farm. Yet, when as a middle-aged adult she was enlisted to serve communion at St. Patrick's Cathedral, she performed with her customary aplomb.
Whether technically guest or hostess, Mary Alice Ward was consistently the consummate entertainer. She was much at ease in chatting with President George W. Bush in the Oval Office or serving her ham biscuits to author Joseph Heller as she had been in cooking innumerable meals for the friends of her children.
In addition to her family, Mary Alice Ward had a wide array of treasured friends. Their devotion is perhaps best exemplified by the summation of Gloria Cade, who responded to news of Mrs. Ward's death by observing, "I loved your mother, and I don't need to explain to you why."
Indeed, everyone who knew Mary Alice Ward will remember her kindness, charm, wit and her extraordinary bounty of memorable stories. She will also be remembered for the graceful courage with which she led her life and met her death.
The family requests that any memorial contributions be directed to the Frank Pelouze and Mary Alice Ward Scholarship at Campbell University, P.O. Box 567, Buies Creek, N.C., 27605, or to the First Baptist Church, P.O. Box 938, Lumberton, N.C., 28359.
The funeral will be 11 a.m. Thursday at First Baptist Church. Burial will follow in Meadowbrook Cemetery. Arrangements by Biggs Funeral Home.
She was born on July 27, 1917, on a farm outside Burgaw, to Edgar Thomas Batson Sr. and Ola Cobb Batson. She grew up among loving younger brothers and sisters: Eddie, Louise, Beth and Arthur, all of whom preceded her.
As a young farm girl, Mary Alice Batson developed the traits that were to characterize her for 92 years. From her parents, she learned both stoicism and a cheerful optimism to serve as bulwarks against the uncertainties of fate. A favorite childhood memory was the early morning sound of her mother singing happily as she went to collect eggs from the hen house.
The young girl also cultivated the habits of thrift and industry that allowed her to help put her husband through medical school and later to run a frugal household for her husband and four children.
During her childhood, Mary Alice Ward also developed a lifelong love of language and literature, which she indulged in during the fugitive moments away from the manifold tasks required to run a farm household efficiently. Not surprisingly, time in the company of "Little Women" was more alluring than hours canning vegetables on a wood-fired stove or pressing her brothers' white shirts with a primitive iron, especially in the steamy summer heat.
For many years, Mrs. Ward kept a meticulous written record of the thousands of books she had read. Sadly, in recent months her once sharp vision had dimmed, but the loss did not darken her sunny attitude toward life.
During the "Great Depression", Mrs. Ward was able to deploy her disciplined determination and supple ingenuity to graduate from both Campbell College and Meredith College. She was exceedingly grateful for the opportunity to attend both, and for many years she served as a conscientious trustee of Campbell University.
While enrolled at summer school at Wake Forest College, she met Dr. Frank Pelouze Ward of Lumberton. They were married on June 29, 1940. They spent 32 happy years as a couple before Dr. Ward's death in 1972, and his photograph had rested on her bedside table since that time.
The happy couple first lived in Holly Springs, where she taught high school and coached women's basketball, despite her lack of prior exposure to the latter activity. After her husband completed Wake Forest's two-year medical school, the young bride moved with him to Charleston, where he completed the Medical College of South Carolina and she walked long distances to work in a jewelry store.
Following Dr. Ward's internship at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, the couple moved to Lumberton, where the young physician began a practice that endeared him to thousands of grateful patients over the next several decades. A measure of their devotion is reflected in his enduring sobriquet "Doctor Frank," which was both respectful and affectionate. So identified was she with her husband and his practice — she took middle-of-the-night telephone calls when he was making house calls — that Mary Alice Ward became known to many as "Mrs. Doctor Frank."
Mrs. Ward also settled into a busy life in Lumberton, enjoying membership in garden and book clubs and the Daughters of the American Revolution, for which she served as both regent and chaplain. For 62 years, she was also a faithful member of the First Baptist Church of Lumberton.
During the 1950s, community leaders encouraged Mrs. Ward to become a candidate for the Lumberton school board. In that election and several succeeding ones, she was the leading vote getter. As a member, she assisted in the delicate process of smoothly integrating the long-segregated public schools. In part because of her skill in accomplishing this objective, she was honored as Lumberton's Woman of the Year in 1962.
The scope of Mrs. Ward's civic and social activities was all the more remarkable because of the endless hours that she devoted to shaping the lives of her young children: Frank Pelouze Ward Jr. of Raleigh, Mary Alice Farnham of Charlotte, Sarah Margaret Whiteside of Birmingham, Ala., and Kathryn Gray Ward of Pleasantville, N.Y.
In addition to her children, Mrs. Ward is survived by nine adored grandchildren: Frank (Marian) and Victoria Ward; Robert (Lisa), Peter (Samantha) and David Farnham; Penn (Sabine) and Margaret Whiteside; and James and Ann Dyer; and three great-grandchildren, Bobby and Lucy Farnham, and Heinrich Whiteside.
She also leaves her sons-in-law, Robert Farmham, M.D., Penny Whiteside and Scott Dyer; and her sister-in-law, Edith Batson. She treasured the company of Nancy Ruark of Raleigh, who brought her many beautiful flower arrangements, and the host of nieces and nephews, who called her "Aunt Sister."
The arc of Mrs. Ward's life was astonishing, and her adaptability remarkable. As a child she was baptized in the northeast branch of the Cape Fear River and attended Riverside Baptist Church that her father built on his farm. Yet, when as a middle-aged adult she was enlisted to serve communion at St. Patrick's Cathedral, she performed with her customary aplomb.
Whether technically guest or hostess, Mary Alice Ward was consistently the consummate entertainer. She was much at ease in chatting with President George W. Bush in the Oval Office or serving her ham biscuits to author Joseph Heller as she had been in cooking innumerable meals for the friends of her children.
In addition to her family, Mary Alice Ward had a wide array of treasured friends. Their devotion is perhaps best exemplified by the summation of Gloria Cade, who responded to news of Mrs. Ward's death by observing, "I loved your mother, and I don't need to explain to you why."
Indeed, everyone who knew Mary Alice Ward will remember her kindness, charm, wit and her extraordinary bounty of memorable stories. She will also be remembered for the graceful courage with which she led her life and met her death.
The family requests that any memorial contributions be directed to the Frank Pelouze and Mary Alice Ward Scholarship at Campbell University, P.O. Box 567, Buies Creek, N.C., 27605, or to the First Baptist Church, P.O. Box 938, Lumberton, N.C., 28359.
The funeral will be 11 a.m. Thursday at First Baptist Church. Burial will follow in Meadowbrook Cemetery. Arrangements by Biggs Funeral Home.
Mary Alice Ward died March 29, 2010, at Southeastern Regional Medical Center.
She was born on July 27, 1917, on a farm outside Burgaw, to Edgar Thomas Batson Sr. and Ola Cobb Batson. She grew up among loving younger brothers and sisters: Eddie, Louise, Beth and Arthur, all of whom preceded her.
As a young farm girl, Mary Alice Batson developed the traits that were to characterize her for 92 years. From her parents, she learned both stoicism and a cheerful optimism to serve as bulwarks against the uncertainties of fate. A favorite childhood memory was the early morning sound of her mother singing happily as she went to collect eggs from the hen house.
The young girl also cultivated the habits of thrift and industry that allowed her to help put her husband through medical school and later to run a frugal household for her husband and four children.
During her childhood, Mary Alice Ward also developed a lifelong love of language and literature, which she indulged in during the fugitive moments away from the manifold tasks required to run a farm household efficiently. Not surprisingly, time in the company of "Little Women" was more alluring than hours canning vegetables on a wood-fired stove or pressing her brothers' white shirts with a primitive iron, especially in the steamy summer heat.
For many years, Mrs. Ward kept a meticulous written record of the thousands of books she had read. Sadly, in recent months her once sharp vision had dimmed, but the loss did not darken her sunny attitude toward life.
During the "Great Depression", Mrs. Ward was able to deploy her disciplined determination and supple ingenuity to graduate from both Campbell College and Meredith College. She was exceedingly grateful for the opportunity to attend both, and for many years she served as a conscientious trustee of Campbell University.
While enrolled at summer school at Wake Forest College, she met Dr. Frank Pelouze Ward of Lumberton. They were married on June 29, 1940. They spent 32 happy years as a couple before Dr. Ward's death in 1972, and his photograph had rested on her bedside table since that time.
The happy couple first lived in Holly Springs, where she taught high school and coached women's basketball, despite her lack of prior exposure to the latter activity. After her husband completed Wake Forest's two-year medical school, the young bride moved with him to Charleston, where he completed the Medical College of South Carolina and she walked long distances to work in a jewelry store.
Following Dr. Ward's internship at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, the couple moved to Lumberton, where the young physician began a practice that endeared him to thousands of grateful patients over the next several decades. A measure of their devotion is reflected in his enduring sobriquet "Doctor Frank," which was both respectful and affectionate. So identified was she with her husband and his practice — she took middle-of-the-night telephone calls when he was making house calls — that Mary Alice Ward became known to many as "Mrs. Doctor Frank."
Mrs. Ward also settled into a busy life in Lumberton, enjoying membership in garden and book clubs and the Daughters of the American Revolution, for which she served as both regent and chaplain. For 62 years, she was also a faithful member of the First Baptist Church of Lumberton.
During the 1950s, community leaders encouraged Mrs. Ward to become a candidate for the Lumberton school board. In that election and several succeeding ones, she was the leading vote getter. As a member, she assisted in the delicate process of smoothly integrating the long-segregated public schools. In part because of her skill in accomplishing this objective, she was honored as Lumberton's Woman of the Year in 1962.
The scope of Mrs. Ward's civic and social activities was all the more remarkable because of the endless hours that she devoted to shaping the lives of her young children: Frank Pelouze Ward Jr. of Raleigh, Mary Alice Farnham of Charlotte, Sarah Margaret Whiteside of Birmingham, Ala., and Kathryn Gray Ward of Pleasantville, N.Y.
In addition to her children, Mrs. Ward is survived by nine adored grandchildren: Frank (Marian) and Victoria Ward; Robert (Lisa), Peter (Samantha) and David Farnham; Penn (Sabine) and Margaret Whiteside; and James and Ann Dyer; and three great-grandchildren, Bobby and Lucy Farnham, and Heinrich Whiteside.
She also leaves her sons-in-law, Robert Farmham, M.D., Penny Whiteside and Scott Dyer; and her sister-in-law, Edith Batson. She treasured the company of Nancy Ruark of Raleigh, who brought her many beautiful flower arrangements, and the host of nieces and nephews, who called her "Aunt Sister."
The arc of Mrs. Ward's life was astonishing, and her adaptability remarkable. As a child she was baptized in the northeast branch of the Cape Fear River and attended Riverside Baptist Church that her father built on his farm. Yet, when as a middle-aged adult she was enlisted to serve communion at St. Patrick's Cathedral, she performed with her customary aplomb.
Whether technically guest or hostess, Mary Alice Ward was consistently the consummate entertainer. She was much at ease in chatting with President George W. Bush in the Oval Office or serving her ham biscuits to author Joseph Heller as she had been in cooking innumerable meals for the friends of her children.
In addition to her family, Mary Alice Ward had a wide array of treasured friends. Their devotion is perhaps best exemplified by the summation of Gloria Cade, who responded to news of Mrs. Ward's death by observing, "I loved your mother, and I don't need to explain to you why."
Indeed, everyone who knew Mary Alice Ward will remember her kindness, charm, wit and her extraordinary bounty of memorable stories. She will also be remembered for the graceful courage with which she led her life and met her death.
The family requests that any memorial contributions be directed to the Frank Pelouze and Mary Alice Ward Scholarship at Campbell University, P.O. Box 567, Buies Creek, N.C., 27605, or to the First Baptist Church, P.O. Box 938, Lumberton, N.C., 28359.
The funeral will be 11 a.m. Thursday at First Baptist Church. Burial will follow in Meadowbrook Cemetery. Arrangements by Biggs Funeral Home.
She was born on July 27, 1917, on a farm outside Burgaw, to Edgar Thomas Batson Sr. and Ola Cobb Batson. She grew up among loving younger brothers and sisters: Eddie, Louise, Beth and Arthur, all of whom preceded her.
As a young farm girl, Mary Alice Batson developed the traits that were to characterize her for 92 years. From her parents, she learned both stoicism and a cheerful optimism to serve as bulwarks against the uncertainties of fate. A favorite childhood memory was the early morning sound of her mother singing happily as she went to collect eggs from the hen house.
The young girl also cultivated the habits of thrift and industry that allowed her to help put her husband through medical school and later to run a frugal household for her husband and four children.
During her childhood, Mary Alice Ward also developed a lifelong love of language and literature, which she indulged in during the fugitive moments away from the manifold tasks required to run a farm household efficiently. Not surprisingly, time in the company of "Little Women" was more alluring than hours canning vegetables on a wood-fired stove or pressing her brothers' white shirts with a primitive iron, especially in the steamy summer heat.
For many years, Mrs. Ward kept a meticulous written record of the thousands of books she had read. Sadly, in recent months her once sharp vision had dimmed, but the loss did not darken her sunny attitude toward life.
During the "Great Depression", Mrs. Ward was able to deploy her disciplined determination and supple ingenuity to graduate from both Campbell College and Meredith College. She was exceedingly grateful for the opportunity to attend both, and for many years she served as a conscientious trustee of Campbell University.
While enrolled at summer school at Wake Forest College, she met Dr. Frank Pelouze Ward of Lumberton. They were married on June 29, 1940. They spent 32 happy years as a couple before Dr. Ward's death in 1972, and his photograph had rested on her bedside table since that time.
The happy couple first lived in Holly Springs, where she taught high school and coached women's basketball, despite her lack of prior exposure to the latter activity. After her husband completed Wake Forest's two-year medical school, the young bride moved with him to Charleston, where he completed the Medical College of South Carolina and she walked long distances to work in a jewelry store.
Following Dr. Ward's internship at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, the couple moved to Lumberton, where the young physician began a practice that endeared him to thousands of grateful patients over the next several decades. A measure of their devotion is reflected in his enduring sobriquet "Doctor Frank," which was both respectful and affectionate. So identified was she with her husband and his practice — she took middle-of-the-night telephone calls when he was making house calls — that Mary Alice Ward became known to many as "Mrs. Doctor Frank."
Mrs. Ward also settled into a busy life in Lumberton, enjoying membership in garden and book clubs and the Daughters of the American Revolution, for which she served as both regent and chaplain. For 62 years, she was also a faithful member of the First Baptist Church of Lumberton.
During the 1950s, community leaders encouraged Mrs. Ward to become a candidate for the Lumberton school board. In that election and several succeeding ones, she was the leading vote getter. As a member, she assisted in the delicate process of smoothly integrating the long-segregated public schools. In part because of her skill in accomplishing this objective, she was honored as Lumberton's Woman of the Year in 1962.
The scope of Mrs. Ward's civic and social activities was all the more remarkable because of the endless hours that she devoted to shaping the lives of her young children: Frank Pelouze Ward Jr. of Raleigh, Mary Alice Farnham of Charlotte, Sarah Margaret Whiteside of Birmingham, Ala., and Kathryn Gray Ward of Pleasantville, N.Y.
In addition to her children, Mrs. Ward is survived by nine adored grandchildren: Frank (Marian) and Victoria Ward; Robert (Lisa), Peter (Samantha) and David Farnham; Penn (Sabine) and Margaret Whiteside; and James and Ann Dyer; and three great-grandchildren, Bobby and Lucy Farnham, and Heinrich Whiteside.
She also leaves her sons-in-law, Robert Farmham, M.D., Penny Whiteside and Scott Dyer; and her sister-in-law, Edith Batson. She treasured the company of Nancy Ruark of Raleigh, who brought her many beautiful flower arrangements, and the host of nieces and nephews, who called her "Aunt Sister."
The arc of Mrs. Ward's life was astonishing, and her adaptability remarkable. As a child she was baptized in the northeast branch of the Cape Fear River and attended Riverside Baptist Church that her father built on his farm. Yet, when as a middle-aged adult she was enlisted to serve communion at St. Patrick's Cathedral, she performed with her customary aplomb.
Whether technically guest or hostess, Mary Alice Ward was consistently the consummate entertainer. She was much at ease in chatting with President George W. Bush in the Oval Office or serving her ham biscuits to author Joseph Heller as she had been in cooking innumerable meals for the friends of her children.
In addition to her family, Mary Alice Ward had a wide array of treasured friends. Their devotion is perhaps best exemplified by the summation of Gloria Cade, who responded to news of Mrs. Ward's death by observing, "I loved your mother, and I don't need to explain to you why."
Indeed, everyone who knew Mary Alice Ward will remember her kindness, charm, wit and her extraordinary bounty of memorable stories. She will also be remembered for the graceful courage with which she led her life and met her death.
The family requests that any memorial contributions be directed to the Frank Pelouze and Mary Alice Ward Scholarship at Campbell University, P.O. Box 567, Buies Creek, N.C., 27605, or to the First Baptist Church, P.O. Box 938, Lumberton, N.C., 28359.
The funeral will be 11 a.m. Thursday at First Baptist Church. Burial will follow in Meadowbrook Cemetery. Arrangements by Biggs Funeral Home.
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"Married to Frank Pelouze Ward, M.D."
"Married: June 29, 1940"
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