Obituary Mary E. Durden

Mrs. Mary E. Durden (nee Tucker) was born July 30, 841 and died in Saulsbury, Tennessee, October 12, 1913.

Between these two dates lies a record of a life so beautiful, so consecrated, so far above the common standard of living, that it is hard indeed properly to portray her biography.

I asked her once the secret of how it was that everyone who came in contact with her loved her so devotedly, from doctors of divinity down to the humblest servant that entered her home. I can see her dear face now, illuminated by a faint smile, as she replied: “Long years ago I made a resolution to try to do some good to everyone that came within the circle of my influence.” And thus it was that every one that entered her home, from the highest dignitaries of the church to the lowliest servant of her household, had this to say; “Mrs. Durden is the best woman and the truest Christian I ever knew.”

She was the mother of two boys, one of whom with his father, preceded her to the better land The other son, Mr. Tucker Durden, still lives to inherit the priceless legacy of the fruits of a mother’s ideal life, spent in the service of our blessed Redeemer and mankind.

The marvelous thing about Mrs. Durden’s life was the fact that, although she seldom issued from the quiet seclusion of her home, except on missions of service for her church, yet her home was the mecca for countless numbers of the sorrowing and the unfortunate. Here they could commune with a soul whose depths of sympathy were unfathomable; who listened to word of grief and trouble with exquisite appreciation and understanding, and in return ministered to the saddened heart with such warm and sincere sympathy that a miracle of restored hope and courage was wrought.

As I recall her face at this moment, the haunting characteristic of her expression was the spirit of patience and gentleness that shown from her eyes. This was the index of her character and life-work; something which, as a human attribute, might be termed the supreme development of motherly love, a love which first enwrapped and then transcended the circle of her own family and rose to the divine heights of a passion almost comparable to that of the blessed Nazarene, which encompassed all mankind.

She was an ideal and devoted member of the Southern Methodist Church, and one apartment of her home was called the “prophet’s room.” The minister and his family always received her loving and appreciative care, and many hearts in parsonages over the Memphis Conference were bowed down when they learned of her departure. She has gone, but her works do follow her

Mrs. W. H. Evans

Source: original newspaper clipping in scrapbook created by Ada Clark Stroup of Saulsbury