Mary Ruth McClure Blackwell, 96, died peacefully on Sunday, Nov. 2, 2008 at Thomas Hospital in Fairhope.
She was a loving wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and friend. She was a former schoolteacher in the Mobile School System, Semmes and Chrichton elementary schools, as well as a pioneering advocate of the special education curriculum at Wilmer School.
She was the daughter of Thomas Bush McClure and Annie Eliza Robinson McClure of Grove Hill.
At the side of her husband of 53 years, Aubrey L. Blackwell, she helped operate both the Bolen Camellia Gardens and Aubrey Blackwell Nursery in Lucedale, Miss.
She was a graduate of Livingston State College, now West Alabama University, member of the Declaration of Independence Chapter of the Daughter of the American Revolution and a member of the First Baptist Church in Fairhope. She was an avid bridge player, a quilter, and a volunteer of numerous organizations and a former member of the First Baptist Church of Lucedale.
She was preceded in death by her husband, parents, brother, Hollis Elmo McClur, and sister, Mattie Lou Hasty of Mobile.
Survivors include a daughter, Jane B. (Robert L.) Grafe of Fairhope; granddaughter, Jane G. (the Rev. William C.) Hampton, missionairies in Baku, Azerbaijan; grandson, the Rev. Robert L. (Braden Hanes) Grafe Jr. of Mobile; nine great-grandchildren, William C. Hampton Jr., Margaret Braden Grafe, Robert C. Hampton, Robert L. Grafe III, Charles Hanes Grafe, Thomas G. Hampton, Joshua Hunt Grafe, Joseph B. Hampton and Hollis Jane Grafe.
Visitation and a service of celebration was held Tuesday, Nov. 4 from the chapel of Sigler Funeral Home, Lucedale, Miss., with the Rev. Rob Grafe Jr. officiating. Interment followed at Magnolia Cemetery, Lucedale.
The family requests memorial donations be made to the Women’s Resource Center in Mobile or to the First Baptist Church of Lucedale.
Arrangements were made by Sigler Funeral Home, Lucedale, Miss.
