Mary Jane Hearn Scott

On December 1, 2020, Mary Jane Scott passed away in her home in Metairie surrounded by family. Mary Jane was born on December 10, 1933, to parents Louise and Thomas Kermit Hearn in Albertville, Alabama, in a home built by her grandparents and still owned by Mary Jane at her death. She attended Albertville High School and graduated from Shades Valley High School in Birmingham. Mary Jane attended the University of Alabama on a full scholarship where she was a member of the 1955 National Debate Championship team, graduating with honors in 1956. At Alabama, she met John Lawson Scott, whom she married in 1956, a marriage which lasted 46 years until his death in 2003. Together they raised three children, Tom, Laurie, and Bill. While serving in the United States Air Force and later while working for World Book & Childcraft, they lived in Havre, Montana; Birmingham and Tuscaloosa Alabama; Chicago, Illinois; Sydney, Australia; and Dallas, Texas, before settling in Metairie in 1972.

John and Mary Jane were true partners. While raising three children, Mary Jane was extensively involved in the World Book business with John, planning and attending meetings, writing speeches, and providing additional support to ensure their success. Mary Jane was an avid reader, lover of television drama and old movies, and an excellent bridge player. She traveled the world with John. She had a life-long love of music, especially Frank Sinatra and pop music of the 30s and 40s and traditional Baptist hymns, such as “In the Garden” and “When They Ring those Golden Bells.” In recent years, she was fond of Michael Feinstein and James Taylor. She obliged John’s love of skiing, a sport that has become a family-wide passion. Since John’s death in 2003, she enjoyed most those times spent with family and friends. Everyone in the family, including an expanding group of young Mary Janes, will remember fondly Mary Jane presiding as matriarch on the back porch swing at the family home in Albertville.

Mary Jane was a fan of the New Orleans Saints and a nervously devout fan of Alabama football – sometimes refusing to watch the game until Alabama took a comfortable lead. This past week she enjoyed one last Alabama blowout of Auburn. Roll Tide!

Mary Jane will be missed by a wonderful group of life-long friends. Words cannot express the appreciation of the family for the outpouring of support they have given to Mary Jane during her final weeks.

In addition to her husband, Mary Jane was preceded in death by her parents, sister, Anne Lindsey, and brother, Thomas Kermit Hearn, Jr. In addition to her children, Tom (Kathleen), Laurie, and Bill (Meg), Mary Jane is survived by her brothers, Joel Hearn (Daryl) and Jim Hearn (Deanna). She is further survived by her nine beloved grandchildren: Caroline, Allison, and Shannon Scott; Scott (Breland), Ann Sternberg and Marylee Williams; and Will (Elise), Michael (Paige) and John Scott; and five great-grandchildren, who all affectionately knew and loved her as “Mama.” She will also be missed by cousins, nephews and nieces and their spouses and children from her large and close-knit extended family.

Per her wishes, there will be no memorial service. Mary Jane will be interred with her husband, John, in the family plot in Albertville, at a family service next year. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that gifts in her honor be made to the Louise Patton Hearn Scholarship Fund, Wake Forest University, Office of Advancement, Box 7227, Winston-Salem, NC 27109.