Mary Neil Robinson Puryear Wise

Mary Neil Robinson Puryear Wise, 90, lifelong Maury County educator, died at NHC on January 20, 2019. She was born and grew up in Mt. Pleasant, Tennessee where she graduated as 1946 valedictorian from Hay Long High School. While attending Tennessee Technological University, she met and married (1947) Henry Martin Puryear, Jr., a returning World War II veteran. He passed away in 1980.

She received her bachelor’s degree from Tennessee Tech (1950) and her master’s degree from Middle Tennessee State University (1962). She began her teaching career at Riverside Elementary School but spent most of her 30-year teaching career at McDowell Elementary School. While her children were growing up, she was a Brownie/Girl Scout leader and organist at Highland Park Baptist Church, where Henry Martin was choir director.

In 1991 she married David Ingram Wise and became a member of the First United Methodist Church (Columbia). Mrs. Wise was a lay leader delivering communion to the homes of shut-ins and played the piano for her Sunday School class. She was active in DAR, Retired Teachers Association, Maury County Loose Records Project of the Maury County Historical Society and the “Mule Town Rookies”. She enjoyed crocheting, needlework and playing bridge.

She is preceded in death by her parents, the late Earnest Hughie and Susie (Webb) Robinson; two brothers, Howard and Tommy Robinson and her sister, Faye Robinson Brown. She is survived by her husband, David Wise; sister, Frances Robinson (Robert) McKnight of Williamsburg, Virginia; daughter, Neil Ann (Bill) Thomas of Tuscaloosa, Alabama; son, Henry Martin Puryear, III (Carol) of Greensboro, North Carolina; step-daughter, Mary Elizabeth Meador (Nick) of Hendersonville, Tennessee; three granddaughters, Ann Lindsey Thomas, Mary Locke Thomas (James) Rollins and Eliza Thomas (Davis) Maxwell; one step-grandson, Benjamin David (Gretchen) Meador; four great-grandchildren and two step-grandchildren.

Officiating pastors are the Reverend Tommy Vann (McMinnville, Tennessee) and the Reverend Frank Smith (Columbia, Tennessee). Active Pallbearers are: Walt Robinson, Mark McKnight, Neal McKnight, Ken Robinson, Bill Thomas, Roger White, James Rollins and Davis Maxwell. Honorary pallbearers are the Ayres Whitney Fellowship Class of First United Methodist Church, Columbia and the “Mule Town Rookies.”

A public visitation will be on Thursday, January 24, 2019, from 4-6 PM at Williams Funeral Home (Columbia). A Celebration of Life Service will be held at First United Methodist Church (Columbia) at 1 PM on Friday. The family will have a private burial at Polk Memorial Gardens. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to First Methodist Church Worship, Music and Organ Fund.