Mary Elizabeth Skelton Tolbert, age 98, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, departed this realm on Tuesday, March 8, 2022.
She now walks with youthful vigor and joy on the other side and into the welcoming arms of family and friends who preceded her.
Mother was predeceased by her husband, Milton Lawrence Tolbert, Jr., and her sister, Bettye Parks.
She is survived by two sons: Larry (Martha) and Bill (Susie); grandson, Kyle (Rachel); a most beloved great-granddaughter, Aurora; a brother-in-law, Freelin (Barbara); and nephews Tracey Parks (Kim) and David Parks (Meg).
She was born on July 15, 1923, in a small farmhouse in Lewis County, Tennessee to Claude and Gladys Skelton. The oldest of two girls, she always sought to improve her modest beginnings.
Early on, she applied to be an airline stewardess (edgy stuff in the 30s for a farm girl) but was turned down for not being big enough. Instructed to go home and gain weight, she promptly contracted yellow jaundice and almost died – losing weight in the process. End of flying. Her next love was education. She would become a teacher. The first in her family to attend college, graduating with an A. B. from Freed-Hardeman College, Henderson, Tennessee, she proceeded to Murfreesboro to the State Teachers College, matriculating with her teaching certificate.
Along the way she met a local boy just out of the military, Milton Lawrence Tolbert, Jr. They married in 1947, raising two sons, living all the while in the ‘Boro. She taught school for many years, including Lascassas High School, Mitchell-Neilson Elementary, and McFadden Elementary, but her greatest love was always her family and homemaking – a cooker, a sewer, a quilter, a grandma, a wife, and mother. She excelled at them all.
She and daddy attended the North Boulevard Church of Christ for decades, being among the first congregants.
Sincere thanks to the staff at Adams Place for their loving care rendered Mother over the last six years.
Graveside service to be held at Evergreen Cemetery, Murfreesboro on Saturday, March 12, 2022 at 10:00 a.m.
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