Mary Hird

Mary Clark (Brown) Hird, age 97 of Murfreesboro, TN and Grey Eagle MN, passed away Saturday at the home of her eldest daughter. In Kansas, she spent her senior high school year in “Normal Training” then taught in a one-room schoolhouse until her marriage to US Navy Ensign, Louis R. Hird. Mary Clark was a perfect Navy wife making a gracious home for her her husband and their three daughters during the family’s many tours of duty; favorite places being Valley Center, CA and Ford Island, HI. During retirement years as a couple she was active at St. Patrick’s Episcopal Church in Ocala, FL, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Murfreesboro, TN, and at Good Samaritan Episcopal Church in Sauk Centre, MN. Mary Clark was a member of the Daughters of the King. For her entire life, Mary Clark spent every sumer at Big Birch Lake in Grey Eagle, MN and also watched three more generations of her entire family grow up and flourish doing the same. She was an avid reader, played Cribbage and Bridge, was an excellent cook , had the gift of hospitality, and passed on her love of water and water sports to the whole family. Mary Clark was preceded in death by her sister Gertrude and brother Phil, Norm, and Paul Jr., infant son Clark Rittenhouse Hird, daughter Laurie B. Freeman, and her loving husband Louis to who she was married 73 years. She leaves behind daughters Sally (Bob) Hughes of Murfreesboro, TN and Julia ( Tom) Zaborski of Oshkosh, WI, son- in – law Ralph Freeman of Grey Eagle, MN, 12 grandchildren, 23 great grandchildren, families of nieces Geri Hird, CA, Michelle Elliott, OR, and Bonnie Brown, CO, families of Brown nephews Paul ( Chris), CA, Dennis, OR, and Charles ( Jan), KS. A Memorial Service and Interment will be held during 2013’s summer gathering of friends and family in Minnesota.