Mary Ellis Beal

MARY ELLIS BEAL died January 4, 2012 at Asbury Place following a stroke on Christmas Day. She was 88. With Her husband, C. Monroe “Sonny�? Beal, who died in 1983, she was co-owner and operator of Beal Office Supply Company for more than three decades. Her first career was as an airplane mechanic at Tyndall Air Field in Panama City, Florida, while Sonny was a gunnery instructor in the Army Air Corps there. She also worked at the Alcoa Aluminum Plant. She was a 1942 graduate of Maryville High School and a member of Broadway Methodist Church. Mary served as a Pink Lady at Blount Memorial Hospital Auxiliary, volunteering more than 5,000 hours of service. Mary lived for the past four years at MorningView Village and before that for about seven years at Windsor Manor, where she moved from her lakeside home in Louisville. She was an avid UT football fan, a season ticket holder who also attended many away games. She raised three children, bowled in the old Smoky Mountain Ladies League, taught Sunday School at Broadway Baptist Church, served as an elections precinct official, was a former officer in the Local AARP chapter, and was active in the annual Lions Club horse show. For many years, Mary has been recognized at the county’s annual Cancer Survivors’ Day for being the longest-living cancer survivor (from a successful 1956 surgery) and recognized at the Law Family Reunion for being the oldest living survivor of Abraham Law. Laws Chapel Primitive Baptist Church is named for the family. Mary was born May 6, 1923, on Maryville’s Cherokee Street to John Harrell Ellis, a longtime veteran of the Maryville Fire department and Blount County Rescue Squad, who died in 1975, and Mattie Hatcher Ellis, who died when Mary was nine years old. Mary was the oldest of John and Mattie’s three children. Her sister and close friend, Elizabeth Ellis Jones (Glenn), of Maryville, died in 2007, and her brother, John H. Ellis Jr., (Ruth) survives in Strawberry Plains. A stepbrother, David Ellis (Linda) survives in Maryville. Mary is survived by two of her three children: Dennis (Glenda) of Washington, D.C., and Mary Anne Sayne of Maryville; a second son, Gary (Peggy), died in 1998. In addition to a wide circle of friends, other survivors include grandchildren Susan Beal of Brooklyn, NY, Sean Beal of Walland, Charles Sayne and Zachary Beal of Maryville, and Matthew Beal of Knoxville. Great grandchildren are Samantha, Courtney, Jonah, Eden and Ashlyn Beal; and many devoted nieces, nephews, and great nieces and nephews. The family will receive friends from 2:00 until 3:00 PM and 5:00 until 7:00 PM, Friday, January 6, 2012 at Smith East Chapel. Funeral services will be at 10:00 AM, Saturday, January 7, 2012 at Smith West Chapel with the Reverend Amy Probst of Broadway Methodist officiating. Interment will follow at Trentville Cemetery in Strawberry Plains. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to: Friends of the Smokies, PO Box 1660, Kodak, TN 37764-7660 or Broadway Methodist Church Outreach Fund. Smith Funeral & Cremation Service, Maryville, 865-983-1000. To send flowers or a memorial gift to the family of Mary Ellis Beal please visit our Sympathy Store.