Mary Elizabeth Reece

Mary Elizabeth Woodruff Reece of Boonville passed away peacefully on Wednesday evening, March 30, 2022.  She was blessed with 99 plus years of healthy life and a memory that was unbelievable.  She lived a simple life close to home and found joy in the gifts of nature that God blessed her with in her garden and yard.  Her home was always adorned with flowers, greenery, and fruits of the land.  She was a great cook and often remembered for her delicious Moravian Christmas cookies.  For decades she would knead hundreds of pounds of flour, spices, and molasses into a dough to produce the paper-thin gems for friends and neighbors.  Each one was inspected with care before being placed in a Christmas napkin adorned tin.  The ones that did not pass inspection were graciously enjoyed by her family.  Her vegetable garden each year signaled a new growing season and fed many beyond her own family.  Mary loved her family and grandkids.  Their accomplishments were her pride and joy.  Her son’s Welsh Terrier, Emma Kate, made her smile and brought her comfort; Mary often said, “we understand each other.”  Mary shared her home with her daughter, Amy, and they had more than just a mother to daughter relationship, they were best friends.  She loved her church family and found strength through her faith in God daily knowing that she too someday would join her late husband, Howard, in Heaven with an everlasting peace.

Mary was preceded in death by her parents, A. P. and Mamie Pardue Woodruff; her husband, Howard; brother, Allen Woodruff and sister, Lillie Mae Woodruff.  She is survived by her son, Roger (Marla), daughter, Amy and grandsons, Winston and McKinnon; brother, Major (Betty); sister-in-law, Carolyn and numerous nephews and nieces from both sides of the family.

Services celebrating Mary’s life will be conducted at Boonville Baptist Church on Sunday, April 3, 2022 at 4PM with Reverend John Brown officiating.  The interment will follow the service in Boonville Cemetery.  The family will receive friends in the family life center at the church from 2:30PM until 3:45PM.  Prior to the services, the body will lie in state on Saturday April 2, 2022 from noon until 5:00PM at Gentry Family Services in Yadkinville, NC.  In lieu of flowers, Mary requested memorials be made to the Family Life Center Building Fund of Boonville Baptist Church, PO Box 429, Boonville, NC  27011.  Online condolences may be made at www.gentryfuneralservice.com.