Mary Frances McKay

Longtime Ashdown resident, Mary Frances McKay, 90, died on Tuesday, December 15th, after a short battle with kidney disease. Mary was born in Winnsboro, Louisiana in 1930. She grew up in Camden, Arkansas and graduated from Arkansas State Teachers College where she met and married Pat McKay in 1951. Mary had two sons, Mike and Mark. She began a forty-year teaching career in Arkansas public schools in Clarendon. She taught middle school art and English in Ashdown for 20 years, retiring in 1993. Additionally, she taught continuing education for 30 years. She is preceded in death by her father, William Welch and mother, Lester Welch. Survivors include Mike McKay, granddaughter Anne McKay and great grand daughter Charlotte. Additional survivors are Mark McKay and granddaughter Annabeth McKay. Other family members include a niece Teresa Firman, nephew Jimmy Welch and Elizabeth McKay. Mary was active in the First United Methodist Church, P.E.O., Delta Kappa Gamma, LRC Retired Teachers, LRC Arts Council, LRC Historical Society and Two Rivers Museum all in Ashdown. Being an artist defined Mary. She was a prolific painter with more than 60 oil paintings in her lifetime. The paintings depicted places she traveled and beauty she beheld. Additionally, she made ceramics, macramé and needlepoint. Mary traveled extensively, including Australia, France, Germany, Scotland, Italy, Tahiti, Hawaii, Anguilla, Saint Martin, Bahamas, Jamaica, Spain, Mexico, Hong Kong, Bali and many US destinations. She is known for being a tough teacher and a consummate volunteer. Many credit her vision as the driving force for the Two Rivers Museum in Ashdown. She will be interred at Memorial Park Cemetery in Camden, Arkansas between her mother and father’s graves. Memorials to either the Two Rivers Museum or First United Methodist Church in Ashdown.

Memorial Services are scheduled for 11:00 A.M., Saturday, January 16th, 2020 at First United Methodist Church, Ashdown, Arkansas under the direction of East Funeral Home - Downtown.

Online tributes may be sent to www.eastfuneralhomes.com.