Bess Powell Autry

Bess Powell Autry, 73, of Chapel Hill and Wrightsville Beach, died September 4. Bess was born in Greenville, Mississippi and grew up in Wilmington, North Carolina, the daughter of Charles James (“Pete”) Powell, M.D., and Helon Graeber Powell.

Following graduation from New Hanover High School in 1957 and Duke University in 1961, she married George Autry, a marriage that lasted until his death in 1999. They lived in Washington, D.C., where she worked as a staffer and personal assistant for Vice President Hubert Humphrey.

Following her move to Chapel Hill in 1967, Bess received her Master’s of Social Work degree from UNC-Chapel Hill and began a career as a clinical social worker. She worked at the Durham Child Guidance Center with a faculty appointment from Duke’s Department of Psychiatry, and in 1987 founded Forest Associates, a psychiatric social work practice, with her colleague, Robert Laws.

She loved flowers and gardening and was a founding member of The Flower Flakes. She enjoyed good food and good wine, and her home was always the meeting place for her friends and those of her children. More than anything she was loyal to those she loved.

Bess was predeceased by her sister and dear friend, Margaret Powell Pendergraft Gibbs. She is survived by her son, George Bailey Autry, Junior, and his wife Stephanie Hutchins Autry of Wake Forest; daughter Ret Autry Boney and her husband Leslie Norwood Boney III of Raleigh; and nephew William Franklin Pendergraft and his wife Trudy Buckingham Pendergraft of Boston; grandchildren George Bailey Autry III and John Cameron Autry of Wake Forest, Leslie Norwood Boney IV and Grace Autry Boney, of Raleigh; and great-nephews Luke Franklin Pendergraft, Isaac Swain Pendergraft and great-niece Eleri Pierce Pendergraft, of Boston.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to the UNC Department of Psychiatry, Child and Adolescent Division, 101 Manning Drive, Campus Box 7160, Chapel Hill, N.C. 27599.

There will be a memorial service at Christ United Methodist Church, 800 Market Street in Chapel Hill at 3:00 pm Saturday, September 8.

Brown Wynne Funeral Home, www.brownwynne.com.