Mary Wylie

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, December 23, 2009

SHREVEPORT, La. —Graveside services for Mary Feltus Wylie, 95, who died Sunday, Dec. 20, 2009, at Pierremont Healthcare in Shreveport, will be at 11 a.m. today at Forest Park Cemetery with Chaplain Jim Brooks officiating.

Burial will follow under the direction of Forest Park Funeral Home and Cemeteries in Shreveport.

Mrs. Wylie was born Dec. 14, 1914, in Natchez, the daughter of Charles Edwin and Emma Ruth Feltus.

Her family moved to Shreveport when she was 6, where her father was associated with Shapley Hardware Company. She graduated from Byrd High School in 1932. She was employed by the Retail Merchants Association and enjoyed working as a stage manager for many of the productions of the Shreveport Little Theatre. She married Mack Wylie in 1939. They were active in the First Presbyterian Church and then Broadmoor Presbyterian Church. During the 1950s, she, her husband and their two children lived in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, where they enjoyed many of the cultural activities the “Queen City” had to offer. It was there that she became involved in the winter sport of curling and began to pursue her passion for writing. She returned to Louisiana in 1959 and moved to Ruston, where she remained until 1980. She was employed at Louisiana Tech University in several administrative positions, including secretary to the manager of the Bookstore, administrative secretary to the director of financial aid, and administrative secretary to the director of admissions and orientation. She was active in the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer and was a devoted member of the Altar Guild. She served as advisor to the Cantebury Association and Sigma Nu Fraternity’s Order of the White Rose. Mrs. Wylie was the epitome of a “people person,” and was dearly loved by students and faculty alike of the Tech and Ruston communities. She was also a member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. She retired in 1980 and moved back to Shreveport. She returned to work from 1981 to 1985 as a patient accounts representative at Schumpert Medical Center and was active as a hospice volunteer through their Cancer Center. She loved classical music, ballet and theater and traveled throughout the United States to attend opera, ballet and musical theater performances. She was an avid reader, writer, and a published author. She was a member of Broadmoor Baptist Church.

Mrs. Wylie was preceded in death by her parents; her husband of Little Rock, Ark.; one sister and her husband.

Survivors include one son, David Feltus Wylie of Hot Springs Village, Ark.; one daughter, Claire Wylie Pelton and husband, Nicki; one grandson, Kevin David Pelton; and great-grandson, Cameron Kyle Pelton, all of Shreveport.

The family would like to thank the staff, nurses and aides at The Terrace of Bossier City, Pierremont Healthcare Center and Odyssey Hospice of Shreveport for their love, care and concern for “Miss Mary”.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association, Odyssey Hospice or the Humane Society.