Mary Kathryn Knight Modena

Mary Kathryn Knight Modena passed away peacefully at Pine Pointe Hospice on February 21, 2024 after a short illness. Graveside services will be held Saturday, February 24, 2024 at 11:00 AM in Macon Memorial Park Cemetery. Rev. Len Woodard will officiate.

Mary Kathryn grew up on her family’s dairy farm outside of Brunswick, Georgia, leaving her with a green thumb and lifelong love of animals. After graduating from Glynn Academy in 1962, she won the title of Miss Golden Isles and competed in the Miss Georgia Pageant before moving to Macon to study Radiologic Technology at the Medical Center of Central Georgia. She met her soulmate on a blind date, and in 1965 married Jerry M. Modena, Sr. They were married for 50 years before his passing in 2015.

Mary Kathryn worked for over 30 years as an x-ray technologist and nurse, capping her career with nuclear medicine, mammography and densitometry. She was the president or founding member of numerous social and political groups, beginning in 1976 with support groups for deputy sheriff’s wives and concluding in the late 2000’s with a statewide political committee. She worked with groups as diverse as the Italian-American Club of Central Georgia, the Bibb County Democratic Women, the Creative Living Section for the Georgia State Fair, the Central Georgia Opera Guild, and the Beta Phi Chapter of Epsilon Sigma Alpha Sorority, and served for a time on the River Edge Community Service Board.

Her husband was most proud of the three successful county-wide Sheriff’s elections she co-ran with him and other supporters. He referred to Mary Kathryn as “the wind beneath my wings.” Her children nicknamed her “Hurricane Mary,” because if someone she loved needed help, nothing would stand in her way. She threw amazing parties for groups from 4 to four hundred, and loved her family without measure.

Mary Kathryn has gone to join her husband, former Sheriff Jerry Modena, her son, Michael Modena, her parents, Robert and Margaret Knight, and her brother, Jerry Bradford. She leaves behind her daughter and son-in-law, Melanie and Bo Wilder, and grandchildren Noah and Katherine Samuelson, Brianna Modena, and Jacob and Blake Wilder. She is missed by her sister, Josephine Lane, devoted nephews and friends, and her dear friend and caregiver Justine Ferguson, who has been a blessing every day.

In lieu of flowers, the family encourages friends to make a donation of the charity of your choice.

Snow's Funerals and Cremations at Macon Memorial Park is in charge of arrangements.