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Obituary for Mary Holt Kepner
On September 7th, Mary passed away peacefully in her sleep. The family will receive friends on Tuesday, September 12th, 2017 at 10:00 am. The Funeral Service will begin at 11:00 am, in the Fellowship Hall at First Presbyterian Church in Canton, Mississippi.
Mary was born in Rogers Park, Illinois, As a child she joined the Presbyterian Church in Rogers Park and would remain a lifelong member of the greater Presbyterian congregation. Mary attended high school and her first two years of college at Lyons Township in LaGrange Illinois. She went on to Chicago Musical College where she emphasized in Piano, and later graduated from North Central College with a degree in English. She got her teaching certification from Millsaps College. Much later she went on to earn a Masters Degree in Elementary Education from Roosevelt University along with numerous teaching certifications. Mary’s first job as a teacher was teaching music in an elementary school in Bauxite, Arkansas, a small mining town that is now a suburb of Little Rock.
She married Lester M. Kepner in 1948 and moved to Canton several years later. She taught first and second grade at Pisgah Elementary school for eight years She began classroom teaching at Canton Elementary in 1970. Mary finally became the Special Education Supervisor at McNeal and retired in 1988.
After retirement, Mary traveled extensively in England and Germany. She was a charter member of the Allison’s Wells Quilters Guild, a member of 20th Century Club, active in Mississippi Homemaker Volunteers of Madison County, a member of FPC Esther Circle as well as the Canton Music Club. She played piano for the First Presbyterian Church Kindergarten for 15 years until just short of her 90th birthday. Mary is survived by her sister Nancy Holt Rose, her children: Albert Kepner (Joyce Easson Kepner), Nancy Kepner Ketcham (Sonny Ketcham), and her grandchildren: Ben Kepner (Elizabeth Iverson), Nancy Kepner, Josh Ketcham, and Zack Ketcham.
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