of Memphis, TN

October 13, 1920 - September 20, 2017

Mary Evelyn Cockrill McCrary, 96, formerly of Marion, Ark., died Wednesday, Sept. 20, at Allen Morgan Health and Rehabilitation Center, in Memphis. The funeral will be held Saturday, Sept. 23, at 11:00 AM at Crawfordsville (Ark.) United Methodist Church; the family will receive guests at the church beginning at 10:00 AM. Burial will follow at Evergreen Cemetery, in Murfreesboro, Tennessee on Monday, September 25, 2017 at 2:00 PM.

Evelyn is survived by one brother, Harvey Albert Cockrill, of Laurel, Miss.; two sisters-in-law; and six nephews. She was preceded in death by her husband, Howard Franklin McCrary; her parents, Mildred Pulliam Cockrill and Richard Prentice Cockrill; three sisters; and two brothers.

The family requests that memorials be made to the American Diabetes Association.

Known to family as well as friends as (Little Sister) or (Aunt Cissy), Evelyn was born in Marshall County, Miss., but as a young girl moved with her family to Crittenden County, Ark. She graduated from Crawfordsville High School in 1939, and proudly recalled having brought down the house with her one line that year in the school play: "My tongue is my own and I'm going to let it shake" After graduating from Miss Wylie's Business School in Memphis, Evelyn moved to Murfreesboro, Tenn., where she and her husband later were charter members of Trinity United Methodist Church. Following her husband's death in 1982, she retired from the Veterans Administration, and returned to Arkansas to live near her family and help care for her mother.

Evelyn inherited from her father a gift for storytelling and a love of family lore. She was a direct descendant of John and Ann Robertson Cockrill, who with other pioneers from Fort Watauga came down the Cumberland River on the Donelson Flotilla in 1779 to establish Fort Nashborough, later known as Nashville. She will be lovingly remembered by many for her wit, her lively spirit, and her generosity.

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