MRS. MARY ISABELLA LUPER PASSES

Mrs. Mary Isabella Luper, for years a resident of Prentiss, and life-time citizen of Jefferson Davis county, died at her home in this city early Saturday night after an illness of three years. Long years of invalidism had worn away her native resistance and the tired body fell asleep as her children, all now grown, stood by the bedside of a gentle mother whose life had been devoted to her loved ones and to those among whom she lived.

Funeral services were conducted Sunday afternoon from the Methodist church, directed by her pastor; the Rev. A. S. Oliver, assisted by the Rev. J. B. Herndon, Baptist pastor. Beautiful and tender tributes were paid to the life memory of this good woman, this wonderful mother, who "lent not her graces to the grave, but left them for earth to copy" in the lives of her children. Burial was made in the Brady cemetery by the side of her husband, Mr. J. Albert Luper, who passed away in 1903. And thus the romance begun when she was a young woman, wooed, and wed by this splendid young man, was re-united beyond the grave. Walden's Funeral Home had charge of the funeral.

Mrs. Luper was born 72 years ago in the Santee community. Her young life was shadowed with tragedy. Too young to realize what it meant, she learned of the death of her father, Lieut. Woodward Applewhite, who fell in battle fighting for the Southern cause, a brave soldier who gave his life for a "storm-cradled nation that fell." Then later, when but five years of age, she lost her mother. Thus death, grim and spectral, shadowed her young life.

Upon the death of her mother, a kind uncle, her father's brother, Mr. Isaac Applewhite, and his good wife, took the little orphaned girl to their home and there reared her as their own. This good man, her uncle, and his beloved wife sleep in the old family cemetery near Bassfield. She resided with her foster-parents until her marriage to Mr. J. A. Luper in 1881, when they moved to the Blountville community, now Prentiss, and established a home. Mr. Luper was a member of a prominent family, and they were happy in the rearing of their children, nine of whom have grown to maturity, and to each of whom they gave most liberal educational opportunities.

In 1903 death again shadowed the life of this good woman. Her husband was taken almost in the prime of mature manhood, leaving her with a large family, six boys and three girls. Born of an heroism to conquer difficulties, she met the task, and how well she succeeded and how devoted she was to them and how successfully she planned for them are written in their own lives.

She joined Santee Methodist church when a child and all her life she was a devoted Christian. Her husband united with her church and thus they reared their family. She was a real mother. The radiance of her life was like the aroma of a flower. As nearly as humanly possible, it was an epitome of the 13th Chapter of First Corinthians. She "suffered long and was kind; evied not; not easily provoked; rejoiced in the truth."

She was borne to the grave by her six manly sons: Senator O. C. Luper, Jackson; Dr. James Luper, Okolona; Grover C., George E., Charles W., and Clarence A. Luper, all of Prentiss. Honorary pall bearers were Jno. W. Burrow, R. C. Williams, Leland Tyrone, Leon Tyrone, Dr. W. S. Berry, Dr. L. M. Magee, Dr. G. C. Terrell, P. W. Berry, Sr., John Laird, C. E. Thompson, R. E. Dale, John McLaurin and Charles Duckworth.

Besides her sons, three daughters survive, Mrs. Etta Waller, Hattiesburg; Mrs. W. W. Gray, Carson; Miss Bessie Luper, Prentiss. A brother, I. W. Applewhite, Halletsville, Texas, died only two months ago. "Uncle" Sam Harper, Bassfield, is a surviving uncle.

To one, who had lived as she,
Death held no fears.
Sunset and evening star,
And one clear call for me;
And may there be no moaning of the bar
When I put out to sea.

Published in The Prentiss Headlight, Prentiss, Mississippi, Thursday, July 21, 1932