Florence Foy Gary

Florence Foy Strang Gary, age 89, died on September 21, 2021, at Mount Royal Towers in Birmingham, Alabama. She was born in Eufaula, Alabama on November 29, 1931, to Florence Kirven Foy and Carl James Strang. After graduating from Eufaula High School, she studied at Hollins College in Roanoke, Virginia, for one year. She then transferred to Auburn University, where she was awarded a bachelor’s degree in literature in 1953 along with a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship for further study, which she used to study Southern literature at Samford University.

On October 8, 1954, Foy, and Beall Dozier (“Nap”) Gary of Georgetown, Georgia, were married in Eufaula and moved to Birmingham. Their union lasted nearly 57 years, until his death in 2011, and produced four children.

Foy was devout in her love of God, church, and country, as well as her numerous Foy relatives. She was an active member of Canterbury United Methodist Church, serving as superintendent of what was at the time the largest Methodist Sunday School program east of the Mississippi, circle leader of the Altar Guild, and on the Board of Missions. She was also involved with the local PTA, Hollins Alumnae Association, Kappa Delta sorority, the Christ Child Circle and the Pierian Club (Eufaula), United Ability (Birmingham), the Millbrook Garden Club, and the Daughters of the American Revolution. Her hobbies included music, botany, all varieties of needlework, and, especially, reading. She found joy and excitement in conversation with a wide range of all people. But her children came first, and she described them as the “stars in my crown.” She took great pride in watching them grow and develop.

Foy was preceded in death by her father and mother; her three uncles, Frederick Humphrey Foy, Col. Levi Wilson Foy, and Rev. Max Strang; her husband; her two brothers, Shorter Thornton Strang and Carl James Strang, Jr.; and her son Beall Dozier (“Nap”) Gary, Jr. She is survived by her daughters, Florence Kirven Gary (Cuthbert, Georgia) and Emily Goode Gary (Batesville, Virginia); her daughter-in-law, Amy Little Gary, (Birmingham); her son William Loren Gary (Birmingham); and seven grandchildren: Dr. Emily Ann Gary (Nate Bell), Beall Dozier (“Britt”) Gary III, Mercer Elizabeth Gary, Robert Andrew McCormick, David Loren Gary, William Samuel McCormick, and James Wilson McCormick.

There will be an informal (business casual) committal of ashes at Eufaula’s Fairview Cemetery addition at 2:00 PM Central Time on Saturday, October 2nd, followed by a reception at Eufaula House (333 W. Barbour Street). In Birmingham on October 3rd, there will be a celebration of life, with Eucharist, at All Saints Episcopal Church (110 W. Hawthorne Road) at 2:00 PM, followed by a reception in the church courtyard. Both services will be Google meeting-enabled:Google Meet joining info

Video call link: https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://meet.google.com/ysd-ihde-kxw__;!!M2D_dUfSiN4E!filTs3EVxhkDrAheUtp2dvuU798QATgqWO30mbm5HtbP2QBb4I9Bt1S4iVbEg1IOTIRWA9cE$ [meet[.]google[.]com] (You will need to copy the entire link and paste in your browser.) All guests must be vaccinated and wear masks when indoors.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests that donations be made to the following: Christ Child Circle (Eufaula), the Epilepsy Foundation of Alabama, United Ability (Birmingham), or the Eufaula National Wildlife Refuge.