Mary Katherine "Katie" Grower Walley

Mary Katherine “Katie” Grower Walley, age 77, passed away Saturday, March 30, 2024. Katie was the proud daughter of John and Mary Catherine Grower. She was born on May 23, 1946, in Corpus Christi, Texas, where her father was stationed after the War. Returning with her parents to Mississippi in 1950, she lived her early years in Yazoo City surrounded by her Steinreide, McGraw and Yerger cousins, and through her elementary and high school years in Jackson. She proudly proclaimed having been in the first First Grade class at St. Richard Elementary School, and in one of the last Senior Classes at the old St. Joseph Catholic High School in downtown Jackson, where she graduated in 1964.

After ten years in the radio business as operations manager (and doing whatever else was needed) for stations in Greenwood and Beaumont, Texas, Katie was introduced to her lifelong professional calling in Mary Kay Cosmetics and returned to Jackson. In Mary Kay she learned she could help women express their outward beauty, nurture their inner beauty and self-love by showing them they were important, and guide them to a path of self-reliance that would change their lives. And change lives she did – inspiring and supporting hundreds of women nationwide to embark on their own success journeys using the inspiration of Mary Kay as their vehicle. Her genuine love for and drive to help others catapulted her to the highest ranks in the company, earning her countless awards and recognitions, the most prominent of which were the eighteen Mary Kay pink Cadillacs she was awarded over her thirty-plus year career. She was named a Mary Kay National Sales Director in 2003, and retired as a National Sales Director Emeritus in 2012.

Though she reached the pinnacle of success on her journey, her proudest moments were being there to support her children and grandchildren as they achieved their own accomplishments. Whether it was a graduation from high school, college, law school, nursing school or boot camp, a school awards program or a band half-time performance or program, an Eagle Scout ceremony, or just the “big game,” Katie was always there with her ever-present smile, applause and words of praise and encouragement, and to sometimes give batting advice from the stands. “Grandmas” to her grandchildren, she was always just a phone call away. Whether the call simply was to tell her about something good that had happened that day, or to ask for a ride to the golf course, those calls and time spent with her grandchildren meant the world to her. Of all the usual family gatherings, Katie cherished most her tradition of taking her high school graduating grandchildren on Caribbean cruises their senior years to spend uninterrupted time with them and to forge individual, lifelong friendships. Katie was a proud mama and Grandmas.

Above all else, Katie loved her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and she lived and shared her deep love for and devotion to her Catholic faith from a young age. She began by serving as an advisor to the Catholic Youth Organization in Greenwood, Mississippi, in the late 1960’s, mentoring Catholic high school students not much younger than herself, and later serving as an advisor for the Diocese of Jackson Youth Office on state-wide CYO programs and events. Katie served the Lord in countless other ways over the years as a member of the St. Dominic Auxiliary, the Board of Directors for the Catholic Foundation and numerous other foundations and committees, and after her retirement, she volunteered her time at St. Dominic Hospital comforting patients and their families with her cheerful smile and heartfelt prayers. Katie was a ceaseless presence in the Mississippi Catholic community throughout her life. She had an uncanny ability to learn which priests were being assigned to parishes in the Jackson area, and was usually the first person to take them to lunch to get to know them. Over the decades, she was a counselor to them nearly as much as they were for her. Thus, included among her dearest friends in life were several bishops, many priests and the Dominican Sisters of St. Dominic Hospital. She was honored by the Holy See in 2001 with Knighthood in the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem for her dedication to supporting Christian presence in the Holy Land. Among her fondest memories was her pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and her multiple trips to the Vatican, including an audience with Pope John Paul II with her parents and sister for the creation in the College of Cardinals of Archbishop Bernard Cardinal Law, who she knew as “Bernie.”

Katie was preceded in death by her parents, John Marshal Grower and Mary Catherine Steinreide Grower, her brother Patrick Grower, her sister Janet Grower Subowitcz, and her husband Thomas Hamp Walley. She will be lovingly remembered by her siblings John Grower, Jr. of Gulfport, Mississippi, Judy Grower Reeves of Knoxville, Tennessee, and Michael Grower of Ridgeland, Mississippi; her children, Marty McCullough McCoy (Bennie) of Lawton, Oklahoma, James McCullough (Tammie) of Gluckstadt, Mississippi, and Katie McCullough McMahon (Scott) of Woodstock, Georgia; her grandchildren Sarah McCoy, Brandon McCoy (Jenna), James “Trey” McCullough III, Stewart McCullough, Mary Beth Burden (John), Victor Lavallee, Ryan McMahon (Rachel) and Shane McMahon; her four great-grandchildren and dozens of cousins, nieces and nephews.

A visitation will be held Saturday, April 6, 2024, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at St. Richard of Chichester Catholic Church, 1242 Lynwood Dr, Jackson, Mississippi, followed by a Funeral Mass to celebrate Katie’s life and to rejoice in her salvation in our Lord. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Katie’s memory to the Diocese of Jackson Catholic Foundation at Post Office Box 2248, Jackson, MS 39225.