Mary Scott Roof, age 92 and formerly of Decatur, passed on peacefully at Heritage Health Care in Blue Ridge, Ga., March 2, 2012.
Mary Virginia Scott was born July 13, 1919, in Todd, North Carolina, one of eight children of Claude and Ethel Scott. She finished high school at the age of 16 and later enrolled at Lenoir Rhyne College, where she met her husband to be, Jack B. Roof. Having started a family of three children, she had put her formal education on hold until attending Georgia State University and receiving her BA in Education in 1970. Mary continued at GSU to graduate with a Master’s degree and taught English and supervised the remedial reading lab at Avondale High School for 17 years before her retirement.

Until failing health prevailed, she was a faithful member of Messiah Lutheran Church in Decatur for four decades. Mary was preceded in death by husband Jack on Mother’s Day, 1992. Also preceding her in death were two brothers– Fred and Bob; and four sisters–Katherine, Hazel, Jo and Billie.

Surviving Mary are her sister, Ruth; her daughter and son-in-law, Cathy and Mitch Waters of Chilhowie, Virginia; son and daughter-in-law, Jack and Sherry Roof of Blue Ridge, Georgia; son and daughter-in-law Jim and Pam Roof of Duluth, Georgia; eight grandchildren; and eleven great grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers,please consider a donation to the Fannin County Scholarship Foundation at PO Box 1883, Blue Ridge, Georgia,30513 in memory of an inspiring educator–Mary Scott Roof.

Funeral services will be held in the chapel of A.S. Turner and Sons Funeral Home, 2773 North Decatur Road, Decatur, GA 30031, on Sunday, March 4, 2012 at 2:00 p.m. The family will receive friends before the service on Sunday, from 12 noon until the funeral hour of 2:00 p.m.