Mary D. Hodges

Mary DeVall Hodges

Carolina Community/Kennesaw, GA – Mary DeVall Hodges, 90, had a sweet reunion with her husband and began her new life in Heaven on Monday, January 23, 2023. She was born on March 27, 1932, the daughter of the late Myrtle DeVall and Stella Conwill DeVall. Mary lived most of her life in her beloved Carolina Community.

Mary grew up in Monroe and Itawamba County and graduated from Fulton High School. She then attended IJC and later graduated from UMW where she was a Home Economics Major. With the love of education as her driving force, she obtained a Master’s Degree in Elementary Education at the University of Mississippi. Mary helped educate many children for over 34 years. She loved teaching 4th grade children.

She was blessed by God with a loving husband and best friend, Charles, whom she married in 1953. They were long time members of Carolina United Methodist Church where Mary played the piano for many years. She also taught Sunday school and was involved in different groups, including the United Methodist Women as well as the Carolina R.C.D.C. During her lifetime, she was blessed with a great church family in addition to her immediate family. She and Charles had two daughters, two grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

After retirement, Mary and Charles traveled, got interested in flowers, and quickly became experts in daylilies. She and her husband established “Hodges Hummingbird Gardens”, on Lost Corner Road where they grew and sold daylilies. Charles was her side kick when she competed in Flower Shows around the southeast. Mary had an incredible green thumb and really enjoyed growing beautiful flowers. She was the charter President of North MS-AL Daylily Society, a member of the Flower Lovers Garden Club, the Old South Iris Society, and the Northeast MS Rose Society. To say the least, she could be a perfectionist at times, and her talent often yielded recognition in area competitions. She used to always say “If it’s worth doing, It’s worth doing right”.

Mary was a woman who was driven and passionate about her family, her students, her community, and her church. She touched so many lives through the years that the legacy she left will live on in other’s hearts and minds. Mary will be missed.

Left behind to treasure her memories are her daughters, Gayla Hodges Turner, Carolina Community, and Sandra Hodges, Acworth, GA; grandchildren, Charles Michael Hodges (Katherine), Athens, GA, and Alexander Maldonado (Jennifer), Nolensville, TN; great-grandchildren, Charles James Hodges, Emma Joyce Hodges, Mary Lauren Hodges, Austin Alexander Maldonado, and Parker Maldonado.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Charles Hodges, and her parents, Myrtle and Stella Conwill DeVall; younger sister, Elsie DeVall.

A Celebration of Life Service will be held on Saturday, January 28, 2023 at 10:00 am at E. E. Pickle Funeral Home in Amory, MS with Rev. Jimmy Criddle officiating. Burial will follow in Wiygul Cemetery, Carolina Community with Pallbearers being Charles Michael Hodges, Alex Maldonado, Austin Maldonado, Brent Hall, Gary Hall, and Thomas Conwill. Honorary pallbearers will be Parker Maldonado and James Hodges.

Visitation for family and friends will be on Friday, January 27, 2023 from 5:00 pm until 7:00 pm at the funeral home in Amory, MS.

Donations may be made to the Carolina Community Church in lieu of flowers.

Memories and condolences may be made to EEPickleFuneralHome.com