Mary Williams

Mary Alice Williams, who lived on her family farm just outside of Mace, died at the Rockville Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Rockville, Indiana, on March 23, 2013, after a short illness. She was 88. Mary was born on March 29, 1924, the first child of Wayne and Esther Davenport, and sister to Virginia Davenport Owens. She attended Mace grade school and New Ross High School, where she played trumpet for both the school band and for a German band that played at social events, and belonged to the Sunshine Society, 4-H, and the Montgomery County Rural Youth Group.

After graduating in 1941, Mary attended the Jordan Conservatory of Music of Butler University, where she played trumpet and piano. During World War II, she worked briefly at the Elston Bank before moving to Speedway to work as a timekeeper at the Allison defense plant for the duration of the war.

On June 2, 1946, Mary married her high school sweetheart, Harold Williams, who had returned a few months earlier from three years of service in Europe during the war. They were married in Mace Methodist Church, and afterwards, they settled in the same home in which Mary had been raised to start their own family. The farm, known as the Loop Homestead, had been in Mary's family since the time of her great grandfather, and in 1974, the State of Indiana presented Mary and Harold a Centennial Award to commemorate the fact that the house had been in the same family for more than 100 years.

Harold and Mary raised five children and lived a busy life together on the farm. They were able to celebrate 52 years of marriage before Harold's death from leukemia in November of 1998. Their oldest son, Robert, also died from leukemia just two years later.

After Harold passed, Mary continued to live on in her "Century Home". She was a member of the Mace Methodist Church, where for many years she played the organ and was active in the Women's Group. She was also a member of the Dorothy Q. Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, where she was chaplain and pianist for several years. Mary belonged to the Montgomery County Historical Society, the Ladoga Library Book Club, and served on the Elston Bank board.

Mary loved to play music and to read. She always had several books going at a time, and liked nothing more than to be settled in front of her fireplace with a new book. Mary had many interests, but she especially loved playing her piano and organ and visiting with family and friends.

Mary was preceded in death by her husband, Harold, her oldest son, Robert, and her sister Virginia Owens. She is survived by four children: Joanne Stephens (Larry) of Rockville, Indiana; Jeanne Plumb (Larry) of Vienna, Virginia; Ruth Roth of Fishers, Indiana; Tom (Judy) of Matthews, North Carolina; and a niece and nephew, Mary Ann Owens, Washington, and Steve Owens, Florida, who she help raise after the early death of her sister, Virginia. Also surviving are nine grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Funeral services will be held on Wednesday, March 27, at 11:00 AM, at Powers-Priebe Funeral Home, 315 S. Washington St., Crawfordsville, with Pastor Rodger Ward and Tammy Mussche officiating. Burial will be in the Mace Community Cemetery. Friends may call at the Powers-Priebe Funeral Home on Tuesday, March 26, from 4:00 PM until 8:00 PM. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the: Mace United Methodist Church Building Fund, 5546 US 136 E., Crawfordsville, IN 47933. Online condolences may be sent to: powerspriebefh.com