Mary Smith Potts

Mrs. Mary Ruth Smith Potts, 77, retired from Shapard Lumber Company where she served as bookkeeper and office manager for more than 43 years and a resident of Edenburg Drive, died Wednesday, March 2, 2005 at Maury Regional Hospital. Funeral services will be conducted Saturday at 2:00 p.m. at Oakes & Nichols with Rev. Ray Newell officiating. Burial will be in the Polk Memorial Gardens. The family will visit with friends at the funeral home Friday from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m. and Saturday from 1:00 until service time. Memorials may be made to the Riverside United Methodist Church Building Fund, P. O. Box 392, Columbia 38402. Notes of sympathy may be sent to www.oakesandnichols.com. A native of Rutherford County, she was the daughter of the late James Thomas Smith and Ethel Kemp Smith. She was a graduate of Spring Hill High School and Columbia Business College. Mrs. Potts was a member and formerly served as Treasurer of the Riverside United Methodist Church and was active in the Love Boat Senior Group. Additionally, she was a former member of the Golden K Kiwanis Club. She is survived by a daughter, Darlene Baxter of Columbia; two sisters, Lillian (James) Bills of Columbia and Dorothy Ann Manus of Murfreesboro; several nieces and nephews including a special niece, Pat Erland of Fairview, and special nephews, David Ryan of Nolensville and Pat Ryan of Lebanon; several great-nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by a sister, Gladys Smith Ryan. Active pallbearers are David Ryan, Pat Ryan, Greg Ryan, Joey Ryan, Sean Stephenson, Ron Erland and Ronnie Erwin. Honorary pallbearers include David McClain, Edward Turner, Dewey Brady, Dudley Chumbley, Ervin Cooper, William Hardin, Charles Barnes, Helen Shapard Hickman, Kay Shapard Curtis, Steve Thomason, Roger Riddle, Austin Brewer, Charles Brewer, Cecil Johns, Ernestine and Ross Whitley, Nell and Jack Chism, Sydney and Wayne Thomas, Janet and David Lindsey, Polly and Steve Mayeur, Nannie Jo Grissom, Lynn McKee Erwin, Tricia Duncan Green and members of the Love Boat Seniors Group at Riverside United Methodist Church.