(From Carson-Wall Funeral Home)
Mrs . Mary Elizabeth (Montgomery) Hedrick, age 91, of Parsons, Kansas entered this life on October 4, 1928 outside of Erie, Kansas.
She was the loving daughter of Cordus Nelson and Sadie Claire Marcum Montgomery and grew up on a farm with her four older brothers. Her mother died when she was four and she was raised by her father and a loving aunt, Marie (“Ree”) Marcum.
Mary spent summers with family in Southwest Missouri and really liked going to the 25-cent movie with her father. She was a 1946 graduate of Labette County High School in Altamont, Kansas, where she excelled in her studies. It was here that she met the love of her life.
Mary was united in marriage to Raymond (Ray) Leroy Hedrick, after his return from Naval duties in the Pacific in World War II, on September 4, 1948 at the former Washington Avenue Methodist Church. They lived out of a mobile home for a few years, traveling around Kansas while Ray worked as an unlocated lineman for Southwestern Bell Telephone company, playing lots of cards before settling in Parsons.
Two children blessed this marriage of 60 years, son Michael Ray and daughter Darla Deane. Mary and Ray encouraged their children to work hard, get a good education and to value family and friends.
Mary worked in various secretarial positions over many years including working for the Parsons City Manager and the Parsons High School Principal. She was a life member of the Beta Sigma Phi sorority which had fun gatherings and raised funds for various civic organizations as well. She was an active member of the Methodist Church, participating on the Board of Trustees and various committees throughout the years.
Sundays were composed of church school and worship service followed by a family dinner, usually chicken fried steak, at the local hotel restaurant on the outskirts of town. She always did enjoy dining out. She and Ray also enjoyed attending various sports activities in which their children were involved. Mary’s other hobbies included playing bridge and other card games where she usually won, crocheting, board games, reading, going to concerts and playing the slot machines, where luck was usually on her side.
In the 60’s, the family had a summer home on Grand Lake of the Cherokees where they spent many weekends boating, skiing and fishing. They also valued travel and their fun and educational family summer vacations to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, Six Flags Over Texas, and one long road trip to California and back with all the sights in between. For four years, the family lived in Chanute, KS before Ray was transferred back to Parsons in 1973.
In 1977, after the children were grown and out of the house, Mary decided to embark on a new career. She studied and became a licensed real estate agent, a position in which she excelled for twenty-five years. During these years, Mary and Ray enjoyed getting away to their second home at Stockton Lake, Missouri, visiting son Michael and his family in Denver, and daughter Darla in St. Louis. After Ray retired in 1986, Mary and Ray enjoyed traveling and camping, touring all 50 states in their various campers. They also enjoyed traveling and spending time with their two grandchildren, Joshua and Jessica, taking them to Florida and to California in their camper.
Nothing made Mary happier than being with family especially her grandchildren and, later, her great-grandchildren. Mary enjoyed going to her high school reunions and visiting with classmates and volunteering with the Pink Ladies at the Labette County hospital in Parsons. Mary retired at the age of 75.
At Ray’s passing in 2009, she moved into the Woodridge Assisted Living facility where she continued to make friends and practice her faith and love of family. In 2013 Mary moved to San Antonio where she could be closer to daughter Darla. There she became an avid Spurs basketball fan, was an ambassador assisting new residents moving into the facility, while enjoying the visits of her family, who came from Missouri, Colorado and California to see her.
Mary experienced years of change, from the Great Depression, World War II and numerous other military conflicts, to electricity, television, central air conditioning, computers, cell phones, and the list goes on. She wholly embraced personal computers, taking her love of typing and communicating to a new level with emails to family and friends.
She was proud of her family, evidenced in both word and action and will long be remembered for her loving, caring, and generous ways. She blessed her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren with love equally and knowingly. If you were her friend, you knew it. She was especially proud of her great-grandchildren, who brought her much happiness, smiles and grew into such caring and responsible adults. Family love, admiration and respect always flourished for this wonderful mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, sister, aunt, in-law and friend.
Mary passed from this life secure in her faith and with the love of God, on Tuesday, April 21, 2020, at 8:00 pm at the Heartis San Antonio Assisted Living facility in San Antonio, Texas. Her family was blessed with the knowledge that even in this time of pandemic, her daughter Darla was able to spend many loving hours with her during her final days.
Mary will be missed by her loving son, Michael Ray Hedrick and his wife, Karin, of Springfield Missouri; her devoted daughter Darla Deane Hedrick and her husband, Francis Quinn, of San Antonio, Texas; her grandchildren, Joshua Clay Hedrick and his wife, Audrey, Jessica Marie Hedrick and her fiancée, Jason Loomis; four great-grandchildren Laura Ashley Hedrick, Madison Kai Hedrick, J.C. Hedrick, Peyton Elizabeth Hedrick (Mary’s namesake); and two step great-grandchildren Jude Piltingsrud and Evan Piltingsrud; several nieces, nephews and other relatives.
Mary was preceded in death by her husband of 60 years, Raymond (Ray) Leroy Hedrick, who passed on April 15, 2009, her father, Cordus Montgomery, her mother, Sadie Claire Montgomery, and her four brothers and two sisters-in-law, Jack Montgomery, Len Montgomery (Wilder), Joe Montgomery (Frances) and Forrest Montgomery. She was also preceded in death by Ray’s six siblings and their spouses. Mary was the last of her generation in our family.
A service will be held for immediate family members on Sunday afternoon. Friends may call at the funeral home on Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. to sign the register book. Burial will be in Mt. Pleasant Cemetery in Altamont.
Memorial contributions may be made in Mary’s honor to Labette Health Foundation or to the Wesley United Methodist Church of Parsons, Kansas and can be left at or mailed to the Carson-Wall Funeral Home, P.O. Box 942, Parsons, KS 67357. Online condolences may be left at www.wallfuneralservices.com.
