Mary Elizabeth Gautier Mahaffey of Ocean Springs died Oct. 3, 2005, in Pascagoula.
She was born Oct. 12, 1922, in Pascagoula. For the past 21 years she was a resident of Ocean Springs and a member of St. Alphonsus Catholic Church.
Mary was preceded in death by her parents, Harold White Gautier, Sr., and Pearl "Billie" Gessman Gautier; her brother, Harold White Gautier, Jr., and wife Dorothy Ryan Gautier; and her sister, Jean Gautier Richardson.
Survivors include her three children, Daniel Eugene Mahaffey, Jr., and wife Brenda of White, GA, Elizabeth Mahaffey Davies of Salt Lake City, and Michael Harold Mahaffey and wife Sherri Evershed of Salt Lake City; six grandchildren, Stephanie Mahaffey Horah, S. Cory Lattuca, Elise Hose, Emily Mahaffey, John Mahaffey, and Stephanie Mahaffey; two great-grandchildren, Dawson Horah and Natalie Horah; her sister, Helen Gautier Wilkinson and husband T.A. of Lillian, AL, and her brother, Bernard Gautier and wife Janet O'Bryant of Pascagoula; 22 nieces and nephews; and many caring and attentive friends.
Mary was proud of her family's heritage and its contribution to this area. She lived life actively and energetically, promoting the betterment of the larger community and opposing what she saw as its detriment. She relished confronting villains who threatened the public good. In later years nothing made her fire burn brighter than a chance to "fight city hall." Indeed, politics was her abiding passion. Mary was a lifelong Democrat and democrat, and proud of it - and a fearless soldier, in and out of uniform, for those causes she deemed worth the fight.
During World War II she was a staff sergeant in the United States Marine Corps at the Pentagon and was proud to have marched in the funeral procession of her great hero, Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
After the war, Mary made a home for her three children as her husband's job with Eastman Kodak moved them between Rochester, NY, and Atlanta. In every town her deep sense of justice and need to aid the less fortunate propelled her into grass-roots political and church activity. She volunteered with the League of Women Voters and the Democratic Party and shook Jack Kennedy's hand. She held part-time and volunteer jobs with her parishes, Our Lady of the Assumption in Atlanta and Saint Louis in Pittsford, NY.
While in Rochester Mary earned an associate's degree in liberal arts and was involved in projects at the University of Rochester. She learned French and traveled to Paris at the age of 70. She read avidly, played bridge, participated in Great Books discussion groups. She was a devoted follower of golf and basketball and a long-time NY Yankees fan, thought Brett Favre hung the moon, and even made the acquaintance of race driver "Fireball" Roberts.
Mary never acknowledged having retired but returned to her roots on the Coast to once again begin decades of community involvement. She was active in the Jackson County Federation of Democratic Women and Jackson Democratic Executive Committee. For many years she recruited and trained poll watchers and kept phone wires hot soliciting votes for her favorite candidates. In 2004 she received the Hall of Fame Award "in appreciation for loyalty and dedicated service to the Mississippi Democratic Party."
Local issues engaged her efforts with the Ocean Springs Historic Preservation Commission, Ocean Springs Home Owners Association, Gulf Oaks Condominium Association, and Friends of Front Beach. And she gave time and loving attention to those in greatest need by her work on the Jackson County Foster Care Review Board.
To the Walter Anderson Museum of Art she gave all the volunteer time she had left and was its unofficial PR officer to all who would listen. Her boosterism also included Ocean Springs' many festivals, Gulf Coast Symphony Guild, country-western concerts, and theater productions of all sorts.
Visitation will be held Friday from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. at O'Bryant-O'Keefe Funeral Home in Pascagoula, concluding with a rosary.
The Mass of Christian Burial will be at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at St. Alphonsus Catholic Church in Ocean Springs, with private burial in Krebs Cemetery in Pascagoula.
Published October 6, 2005 The Sun Hearld
She was born Oct. 12, 1922, in Pascagoula. For the past 21 years she was a resident of Ocean Springs and a member of St. Alphonsus Catholic Church.
Mary was preceded in death by her parents, Harold White Gautier, Sr., and Pearl "Billie" Gessman Gautier; her brother, Harold White Gautier, Jr., and wife Dorothy Ryan Gautier; and her sister, Jean Gautier Richardson.
Survivors include her three children, Daniel Eugene Mahaffey, Jr., and wife Brenda of White, GA, Elizabeth Mahaffey Davies of Salt Lake City, and Michael Harold Mahaffey and wife Sherri Evershed of Salt Lake City; six grandchildren, Stephanie Mahaffey Horah, S. Cory Lattuca, Elise Hose, Emily Mahaffey, John Mahaffey, and Stephanie Mahaffey; two great-grandchildren, Dawson Horah and Natalie Horah; her sister, Helen Gautier Wilkinson and husband T.A. of Lillian, AL, and her brother, Bernard Gautier and wife Janet O'Bryant of Pascagoula; 22 nieces and nephews; and many caring and attentive friends.
Mary was proud of her family's heritage and its contribution to this area. She lived life actively and energetically, promoting the betterment of the larger community and opposing what she saw as its detriment. She relished confronting villains who threatened the public good. In later years nothing made her fire burn brighter than a chance to "fight city hall." Indeed, politics was her abiding passion. Mary was a lifelong Democrat and democrat, and proud of it - and a fearless soldier, in and out of uniform, for those causes she deemed worth the fight.
During World War II she was a staff sergeant in the United States Marine Corps at the Pentagon and was proud to have marched in the funeral procession of her great hero, Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
After the war, Mary made a home for her three children as her husband's job with Eastman Kodak moved them between Rochester, NY, and Atlanta. In every town her deep sense of justice and need to aid the less fortunate propelled her into grass-roots political and church activity. She volunteered with the League of Women Voters and the Democratic Party and shook Jack Kennedy's hand. She held part-time and volunteer jobs with her parishes, Our Lady of the Assumption in Atlanta and Saint Louis in Pittsford, NY.
While in Rochester Mary earned an associate's degree in liberal arts and was involved in projects at the University of Rochester. She learned French and traveled to Paris at the age of 70. She read avidly, played bridge, participated in Great Books discussion groups. She was a devoted follower of golf and basketball and a long-time NY Yankees fan, thought Brett Favre hung the moon, and even made the acquaintance of race driver "Fireball" Roberts.
Mary never acknowledged having retired but returned to her roots on the Coast to once again begin decades of community involvement. She was active in the Jackson County Federation of Democratic Women and Jackson Democratic Executive Committee. For many years she recruited and trained poll watchers and kept phone wires hot soliciting votes for her favorite candidates. In 2004 she received the Hall of Fame Award "in appreciation for loyalty and dedicated service to the Mississippi Democratic Party."
Local issues engaged her efforts with the Ocean Springs Historic Preservation Commission, Ocean Springs Home Owners Association, Gulf Oaks Condominium Association, and Friends of Front Beach. And she gave time and loving attention to those in greatest need by her work on the Jackson County Foster Care Review Board.
To the Walter Anderson Museum of Art she gave all the volunteer time she had left and was its unofficial PR officer to all who would listen. Her boosterism also included Ocean Springs' many festivals, Gulf Coast Symphony Guild, country-western concerts, and theater productions of all sorts.
Visitation will be held Friday from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. at O'Bryant-O'Keefe Funeral Home in Pascagoula, concluding with a rosary.
The Mass of Christian Burial will be at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at St. Alphonsus Catholic Church in Ocean Springs, with private burial in Krebs Cemetery in Pascagoula.
Published October 6, 2005 The Sun Hearld
Mary Elizabeth Gautier Mahaffey of Ocean Springs died Oct. 3, 2005, in Pascagoula.
She was born Oct. 12, 1922, in Pascagoula. For the past 21 years she was a resident of Ocean Springs and a member of St. Alphonsus Catholic Church.
Mary was preceded in death by her parents, Harold White Gautier, Sr., and Pearl "Billie" Gessman Gautier; her brother, Harold White Gautier, Jr., and wife Dorothy Ryan Gautier; and her sister, Jean Gautier Richardson.
Survivors include her three children, Daniel Eugene Mahaffey, Jr., and wife Brenda of White, GA, Elizabeth Mahaffey Davies of Salt Lake City, and Michael Harold Mahaffey and wife Sherri Evershed of Salt Lake City; six grandchildren, Stephanie Mahaffey Horah, S. Cory Lattuca, Elise Hose, Emily Mahaffey, John Mahaffey, and Stephanie Mahaffey; two great-grandchildren, Dawson Horah and Natalie Horah; her sister, Helen Gautier Wilkinson and husband T.A. of Lillian, AL, and her brother, Bernard Gautier and wife Janet O'Bryant of Pascagoula; 22 nieces and nephews; and many caring and attentive friends.
Mary was proud of her family's heritage and its contribution to this area. She lived life actively and energetically, promoting the betterment of the larger community and opposing what she saw as its detriment. She relished confronting villains who threatened the public good. In later years nothing made her fire burn brighter than a chance to "fight city hall." Indeed, politics was her abiding passion. Mary was a lifelong Democrat and democrat, and proud of it - and a fearless soldier, in and out of uniform, for those causes she deemed worth the fight.
During World War II she was a staff sergeant in the United States Marine Corps at the Pentagon and was proud to have marched in the funeral procession of her great hero, Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
After the war, Mary made a home for her three children as her husband's job with Eastman Kodak moved them between Rochester, NY, and Atlanta. In every town her deep sense of justice and need to aid the less fortunate propelled her into grass-roots political and church activity. She volunteered with the League of Women Voters and the Democratic Party and shook Jack Kennedy's hand. She held part-time and volunteer jobs with her parishes, Our Lady of the Assumption in Atlanta and Saint Louis in Pittsford, NY.
While in Rochester Mary earned an associate's degree in liberal arts and was involved in projects at the University of Rochester. She learned French and traveled to Paris at the age of 70. She read avidly, played bridge, participated in Great Books discussion groups. She was a devoted follower of golf and basketball and a long-time NY Yankees fan, thought Brett Favre hung the moon, and even made the acquaintance of race driver "Fireball" Roberts.
Mary never acknowledged having retired but returned to her roots on the Coast to once again begin decades of community involvement. She was active in the Jackson County Federation of Democratic Women and Jackson Democratic Executive Committee. For many years she recruited and trained poll watchers and kept phone wires hot soliciting votes for her favorite candidates. In 2004 she received the Hall of Fame Award "in appreciation for loyalty and dedicated service to the Mississippi Democratic Party."
Local issues engaged her efforts with the Ocean Springs Historic Preservation Commission, Ocean Springs Home Owners Association, Gulf Oaks Condominium Association, and Friends of Front Beach. And she gave time and loving attention to those in greatest need by her work on the Jackson County Foster Care Review Board.
To the Walter Anderson Museum of Art she gave all the volunteer time she had left and was its unofficial PR officer to all who would listen. Her boosterism also included Ocean Springs' many festivals, Gulf Coast Symphony Guild, country-western concerts, and theater productions of all sorts.
Visitation will be held Friday from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. at O'Bryant-O'Keefe Funeral Home in Pascagoula, concluding with a rosary.
The Mass of Christian Burial will be at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at St. Alphonsus Catholic Church in Ocean Springs, with private burial in Krebs Cemetery in Pascagoula.
Published October 6, 2005 The Sun Hearld
She was born Oct. 12, 1922, in Pascagoula. For the past 21 years she was a resident of Ocean Springs and a member of St. Alphonsus Catholic Church.
Mary was preceded in death by her parents, Harold White Gautier, Sr., and Pearl "Billie" Gessman Gautier; her brother, Harold White Gautier, Jr., and wife Dorothy Ryan Gautier; and her sister, Jean Gautier Richardson.
Survivors include her three children, Daniel Eugene Mahaffey, Jr., and wife Brenda of White, GA, Elizabeth Mahaffey Davies of Salt Lake City, and Michael Harold Mahaffey and wife Sherri Evershed of Salt Lake City; six grandchildren, Stephanie Mahaffey Horah, S. Cory Lattuca, Elise Hose, Emily Mahaffey, John Mahaffey, and Stephanie Mahaffey; two great-grandchildren, Dawson Horah and Natalie Horah; her sister, Helen Gautier Wilkinson and husband T.A. of Lillian, AL, and her brother, Bernard Gautier and wife Janet O'Bryant of Pascagoula; 22 nieces and nephews; and many caring and attentive friends.
Mary was proud of her family's heritage and its contribution to this area. She lived life actively and energetically, promoting the betterment of the larger community and opposing what she saw as its detriment. She relished confronting villains who threatened the public good. In later years nothing made her fire burn brighter than a chance to "fight city hall." Indeed, politics was her abiding passion. Mary was a lifelong Democrat and democrat, and proud of it - and a fearless soldier, in and out of uniform, for those causes she deemed worth the fight.
During World War II she was a staff sergeant in the United States Marine Corps at the Pentagon and was proud to have marched in the funeral procession of her great hero, Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
After the war, Mary made a home for her three children as her husband's job with Eastman Kodak moved them between Rochester, NY, and Atlanta. In every town her deep sense of justice and need to aid the less fortunate propelled her into grass-roots political and church activity. She volunteered with the League of Women Voters and the Democratic Party and shook Jack Kennedy's hand. She held part-time and volunteer jobs with her parishes, Our Lady of the Assumption in Atlanta and Saint Louis in Pittsford, NY.
While in Rochester Mary earned an associate's degree in liberal arts and was involved in projects at the University of Rochester. She learned French and traveled to Paris at the age of 70. She read avidly, played bridge, participated in Great Books discussion groups. She was a devoted follower of golf and basketball and a long-time NY Yankees fan, thought Brett Favre hung the moon, and even made the acquaintance of race driver "Fireball" Roberts.
Mary never acknowledged having retired but returned to her roots on the Coast to once again begin decades of community involvement. She was active in the Jackson County Federation of Democratic Women and Jackson Democratic Executive Committee. For many years she recruited and trained poll watchers and kept phone wires hot soliciting votes for her favorite candidates. In 2004 she received the Hall of Fame Award "in appreciation for loyalty and dedicated service to the Mississippi Democratic Party."
Local issues engaged her efforts with the Ocean Springs Historic Preservation Commission, Ocean Springs Home Owners Association, Gulf Oaks Condominium Association, and Friends of Front Beach. And she gave time and loving attention to those in greatest need by her work on the Jackson County Foster Care Review Board.
To the Walter Anderson Museum of Art she gave all the volunteer time she had left and was its unofficial PR officer to all who would listen. Her boosterism also included Ocean Springs' many festivals, Gulf Coast Symphony Guild, country-western concerts, and theater productions of all sorts.
Visitation will be held Friday from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. at O'Bryant-O'Keefe Funeral Home in Pascagoula, concluding with a rosary.
The Mass of Christian Burial will be at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at St. Alphonsus Catholic Church in Ocean Springs, with private burial in Krebs Cemetery in Pascagoula.
Published October 6, 2005 The Sun Hearld
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