Mary Katherine Heriford Farris graduated from her home in Springfield, Missouri, to her heavenly home on Tuesday, September 25. She was preceded in death by her parents, Rev. Wm J. (Billy) and Audra Heriford, two brothers, J.R. and Isaac Heriford, her twin sister Martha Bell Marlowe, and her husband Ralph Farris.
She is survived by a son, James Farris of Austin, TX, three daughters, Pauline Hoffman and husband Mike of Springfield, MO, Aileen Solomon and husband David of Charleston, SC, and Kathleen Peterson and husband Floyd of Mt. Vernon, MO, stepdaughter Kay Farris of St. Louis, Mo., six grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren, and brother Bill Heriford, and sisters Joyce Evans and Janice Hill.
Mary loved people and always had a smile. She worked for Western Printing and Rival Manufacturing in Hannibal, MO, before she and her husband felt led to be foster parents and later opened their home to childcare, where dozens of children called her “Grandma Mary.” Mary was an accomplished seamstress. In retirement, she was first a pupil and later instructor of sign language at Northview Senior Center in Springfield. While in Hannibal, she was a member of Calvary Baptist Church, where she taught in the Primary Department for many years. Since she and Ralph moved to Springfield, she has been a faithful member of National Heights Baptist Church.
Funeral Services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Friday, September 28, 2018 at National Heights Baptist Church, Springfield, with visitation a half hour prior, under the direction of Greenlawn Funeral Home North. Private burial at Veterans Cemetery at 1:00 pm.