Funeral services for Margaret Mays Patterson Ewing, 94, of Benoit will be at 11:00 a.m., Saturday at Benoit Union Church. She died Thursday, May 5 at Mississippi Care Center. Burial will be in Burrus Cemetery, Benoit under the direction of Boone Funeral Home, Greenville.
Margaret Mays was September 8, 1921 in Greenville, MS, was the daughter of Charles Dudley Patterson and Mary Alice Mays Patterson of Benoit. She was preceded in death by her husband of nearly sixty-nine years, Mr. Early Cunningham Ewing, Jr. and her sister, Anne Patterson Lowe and husband Jimmy Lowe of Benoit. She is survived by many loved ones, including a son, Early Cunningham Ewing III (Kay) of Madison; a daughter, Jane Ewing Stephens (Lester) of Benoit; five grandsons, Hubbard Stephens (Angie) of Greenville, Dudley Stephens of Miami Beach, FL, Walt Stephens (Missy) of Greenville, Matt Stephens (Amy) of Lake Village, AR, and Early Ewing of Dallas, TX; four great-grandchildren, Ame Katherine Sellars, Ashton Barnes, Rob Stephens, and Emma Claire Stephens, and several nieces and nephews.
After graduating from Benoit High School, she attended Belhaven College in Jackson and the University of Mississippi in Oxford earning a degree in Education. She was a member of the Delta Gamma Sorority. She and Early were married in 1945 in Boise, Idaho where he was stationed with the Army Air Corps. After WWII, they lived in Ithaca, New York while Early attended Cornell University before returning to the Mississippi Delta in the late 1940’s.
During their years in Scott, MS, where he was Vice President of Research for Delta & Pine Land, Co., she enjoyed traveling extensively and always displayed true Southern hospitality when entertaining guests, including many international guests. Their door was always open and their “welcome mat” never knew a stranger. As a devoted Methodist member of the Benoit Union Church, she was active in the United Methodist Women and the Ladies Sunday School Class. She also volunteered her time to assist the Cub Scouts and the Boy Scouts of America. She loved the communities where she lived and always strived to help meet the needs of people in Scott and Benoit. She was an avid reader and enjoyed gardening and tending to her plants.
Friends and family will miss her great wit, humor, and storytelling. She will be remembered as a loving and generous mother, grandmother, aunt and a friend to several generations of people.
The family will receive friends and relatives at the family home on Friday evening, May 6 and there will be a visitation one hour prior to services on Saturday at the church. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Benoit Union Church, P. O. Box 21, Benoit, MS 38725.