Mary Eva Scarborough

Obituary

Mary Eva Scarborough

Mary Eva Scarborough, affectionately known to her family as “Meme,” died at Spanish Oaks Retreat and Hospice in Savannah, Georgia on August 3, 2018.  Born September 11, 1921 Meme always maintained that “a lady who would tell her age would tell anything” therefore her family leaves it to readers to do the math.  

Meme spent most of her life on a family farm in Dublin, Georgia.  She inherited the farm and lived there until, in declining health, she moved from one extended care facility to another -- sampling the available options in Dublin, Athens, and finally Savannah where she lived for nine years.  

Meme never married but considered her many nieces and nephews her children and indulged them as such.  She worked for J. P. Stevens & Co., Inc. in Dublin, Georgia as the plant receptionist and PBX operator.  Ms. Scarborough’s great curiosity and sharp wit earned her many long-time friends at work, in her church (Jefferson Street Baptist), and in her secret social group, Club 13.

Meme thought well of herself, a rare trait in women of her era, and was especially proud of her great memory -- even in her last days she could flawlessly recite the fourth stanza of the poem Thanatopsis and she knew the precise words to hundreds of songs, if not the tune.  Meme would also want readers to know that she loved her family and that her naturally-brown hair was never colored. 

Ms. Scarborough was predeceased by her parents, James Aaron Scarborough and Pearl Lillian Dixon Scarborough, two sisters Mildred Virginia Scarborough Wolfe and Doris Scarborough Register, and a brother James Leslie Scarborough.   She is survived by her brother, Russell Walden Dixon Scarborough of San Francisco and Savannah.  

The family would like to thank long-time friend and caregiver, Carolyn Ball, the staff of Spanish Oaks who brought Meme much joy and kindly overlooked her sometimes inappropriate antics, and many friends and caregivers who came to Meme’s assistance during her years in Savannah, among them, Betty Green and Vanessa Harris.  All added immeasurably to her and her family’s quality of life. 

A memorial service will be held at Townsend Brothers Funeral Home in Dublin, Georgia on Monday, August 6, 2018 at 11:00AM. A brief committal service at Dublin Memorial Gardens will be held for the immediate family later that afternoon. 

So live, that when thy summons comes to join

The innumerable caravan, which moves

To that mysterious realm, where each shall take

His chamber in the silent halls of death,

Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night,

Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed

By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave,

Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch

About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.

Thanatopsis(4th Stanza) by William Cullen Bryant (circa 1811)

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