Funeral services for Mary Alice McCrory Rogers, of Forest, were 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 13, at Ott & Lee Funeral Home in Forest, with burial in Eastern Cemetery. The Rev. Rick Henson will officiate.

     Mrs. Rogers, 86, died Nov. 10, 2012, following a brief illness.

     She loved her life with humor and enthusiasm, always willing to listen and offer advice to family and friends with a cup of coffee, a slice of pie and no judgment. Born and reared in Forest, after high school, she attended Mississippi Baptist Hospital and received her RN degree. She married her high school sweetheart, Carl Henry Rogers, and they shared their life together for 59 years.

     In Louisville, they reared their four children, ran a furniture business and Mary practiced her interior design, and was a member of the Junior Auxiliary. During this time, they traveled extensively to exotic locales like Peru, Panama, Puerto Rico, Paris and Hawaii as a perk for their appliance sales. In the 80’s, they moved to their home on the Ross Barnett Reservoir where they enjoyed living by the water, watching the alligators lounge on the creek bank and their cat, Boog. Mary returned to her nursing career during this time and worked at the Saint Dominic Hospital Mental Health Center until she retired.

     Mary was an avid bridge player and enjoyed her memberships most recently at the Jackson Country Club and the Commons Lady’s Bridge Club in Forest. She also played with people from all over the world via computer on a daily basis. A storyteller in the best of the Southern tradition, she wrote and published a book, “Don’t That Beat All, Growing Up on Pistol Avenue”, about her depression-era childhood and was recently working on a group of stories about “Boydstun Hill”, their neighborhood in Louisville. Her long and rambling emails chronicling “A Day in the Life of Mary Rogers” were a constant source of delight to family and friends. She also enjoyed her friends and fellowship at Forest Baptist Church where she was a member.

     Preceding her in death were her parents, Howard McCrory Sr. and Merle Rowe McRory; husband, Carl Rogers; daughter, Jeannie Lynn Rogers; and brother, Howard McCrory Jr.

     Survivors are her children, Susan Pickett and husband, Randy, of Brookhaven, Glen Rogers, of Mazatlan, Mexico, Johnny Rogers and wife, Alice, of Forest, and Bryant Rogers, of Santa Fe, N.M.; and a legacy of nine grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. She is also survived by her siblings, Elisabeth Bassett, of Dallas, Robert McCrory, of Benton, Ky., and Marion McCrory, of Montgomery, Ala.

     Memorials may be made to Forest Baptist Church, 439 E. First St., Forest, MS 39074.