Anderson, Mary Virginia Jones
Mary Virginia Jones Anderson, age seventy-nine, passed away peacefully on Sunday, December 25, 2016.
She was born January 7, 1937, in Smyrna, Tennessee, to the late Tom Fox Jones and Ruth Jordan Jones. Mary’s family moved to Nashville and she attended David Lipscomb High School and David Lipscomb College. She was a long-time member of Otter Creek Church of Christ. Mary was a devoted wife, mother, sister, grandmother, and friend. Her greatest joys were her family and serving others.
Mary is survived by her husband of fifty-eight years, Clive Anderson, Jr., and her five children: Tommy Anderson (Stacey), David Anderson (Kathy), Sam Anderson (Jennifer), Susan Burns (Kent), and Dan Anderson (Brooke); twelve grandchildren, Kayla Anderson, Ashley Anderson, Rhonda Anderson, Robert Anderson, John Anderson, Julia Anderson, Sam Anderson, Elizabeth Anderson, Mary Jordan Burns, Virginia Burns, Mitchell Anderson, Hill Anderson; and two sisters, Caroline Jones Cross and Linda Jones Biggs (Winston).
A visitation will be held at Woodlawn Roesch-Patton Funeral Home on Thursday, December 29, from twelve noon until two-thirty in the afternoon. A private graveside will immediately follow the visitation. The family appreciates the loving care of the Woodcrest at Blakeford and the many loving caregivers throughout her lengthy illness.
In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to the Alzheimer’s Association, 4825 Trousdale Dr. #220, Nashville, TN 37220 or Wayne Reed Christian Childcare Center, 11 B Lindsley Ave., Nashville, TN.
Comments by Sandra Collins
My memories of Mary Anderson are too few: seeing her standing beside Linda Biggs folding clothes for the Youth Hobby Shop Christmas Store and learning many years later that they were sisters; coming to her home once and being greeted warmly and graciously; eating the delicious lasagna she would bring to potlucks; receiving a phone call from her about clothing she wanted to donate to YES. When I look for recipes in the Otter Creek cookbook, I always pause at the Mary Anderson entries. I regret not knowing her better. Along with regular financial donations, she and Clive donated the flagpole and years of flags to the Wayne Reed Center. I see it every time I go and remember
who gave it. After the visitation Jerry said Clive had talked eloquently and extensively about what a wonderful wife and mother she had been and how proud he was of all his children. Married for fifty-eight years, she and Clive reared five remarkable children who, along with their father, have risen up to call their Mary “blessed.” Her death on Christmas Day should remind us of the great gift she was to both her family and Otter Creek.
Remarks by Fletcher Srygley, December 29, 2016
Clive and Mary Virginia. A very cool couple. In my mind there is a picture of Clive and Mary in his convertible. The 1956 Mizpah has a picture of Clive, Mary, and another couple ordering hamburgers at Joe’s Drive In—the place to be as a teenager in the fifties. Clive and Mary were a cool couple, but the Clive and Mary that I’ve known in later years have been a committed couple, firmly committed to each other and family and church.
I think I can say with some degree of accuracy that the girl or boy you marry is not the woman or man with whom you may be fortunate enough to celebrate a fiftieth anniversary. We are destined to change and mature. Hamburgers at Joe’s are replaced by family dinners or just quiet dinners together. I know that the Mary of the last few years is not the Mary either of them would have wanted. Clive at twenty almost certainly didn’t imagine that, instead of hamburger, there would be that nightly ritual of dinner with Mary at a nursing home when she would often not even recognize him. And I have no doubt that, had the roles been reversed, Mary’s commitment to Clive would have been as sure. True love that lasts and grows for fifty-eight years is reciprocal.
Clive, we could see your love and faithfulness in a concrete way as you ministered to Mary, but we know that was a response to the love that she had for you and family. Clive, you and Mary have been an inspiration to us. This is surely celebration of a good life and a good marriage. “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace.” Rom. 15:13.
