We can safely say that with the passing of 50-year member Mary Boatright, things will never quite be the same at Eastland Church of Christ.
Superficially, an emblem for the Lord's Supper will almost assuredly get a downgrade. Mary diligently toiled each week to produce bread that was not only unleavened but unrivaled.
Spiritually, the church loses a pillar, a beloved Christian who served with her hands straight from her heart, and someone who, by putting wonderful meals together, drew wonderful people together.
Mary Louise Hardison Boatright died Friday, April 12, 2024, after suffering a stroke. She was 81.
Born in Cullman, Ala., on Feb. 19, 1943, to Thomas and Virginia Hardison, her family moved briefly to Lewisburg, Tenn., then to nearby Lynnville, where Mary's father founded Hardison Milling Company.
Attending a single school for 12 years, she graduated in 1961 from Robert B. Jones High School where she played basketball, was a member of the cheerleading squad and played saxophone in the marching band. Mary Louise — in Lynnville, that's a single-word name (Mareloueez!) — was also an avid swimmer and often commandeered the family's living room for teen sockhops, jitterbugging to early rock 'n roll records of Elvis and others including a longtime favorite song — "Forever" by The Little Dippers.
After graduation, she spent a year studying cosmetology in Nashville, living with an aunt and uncle, J.P. and Elizabeth "Lib" Ramsey. She landed a job in the nearby Rich-Swartz department store as a hairdresser in Nashville's Belle Meade neighborhood. Mary kept cash tips she earned in a closet shoebox, a not-so-secret spot where younger sisters pilfered dollar bills.
In the mid-1960s, Mary reconnected with a former schoolmate who was ending a stint in the Navy, marrying Don Boatright in Pulaski, Tenn., and settling in nearby Columbia while he worked a job with the L&N railroad in Nashville.
Don's work took them on their first move to Louisville in 1968, then to Birmingham, Ala., a year later where they started a family, then back to Louisville by 1974. Moving into their original Governor's Square apartment, Don noted that just a mile down Bardstown Road was an unassuming church on the banks of Fern Creek with a white steeple  — Eastland Church of Christ, where the Boatright name began to be woven into the fabric of the congregation.
Later they moved to a house in Highview where Mary and Don raised three children — Scott, Julie and Donna, tightly knit over four years. Mary became a room mother at Rangeland and Luhr Elementary Schools, along with working with the PTA and crafting a snow-sled for a Christmas play that was used for many years at multiple schools. When the children were older, Mary briefly operated Cross Stitchin' by the Creek with longtime friend Janice Robarts, then worked in medical records, first at University Surgical Services and later at Women First of Louisville.
Along with cross-stitching, she often used her productive hands to cook, make ceramics and macrame among other creative pursuits, and maintained hairdressing skills by styling the hair of everyone in the family (even blow-drying Don's hair each morning before work).
Relationships at Eastland flourished with Don and Mary taking annual golfing and tourist trips to Hilton Head, S.C., with their best friends: Janice and her husband Reggie, Charlie and Maxine Ray as well as Jerry and Brenda Crowder.
In decorating her hospitable home, Mary had a penchant for framing aphorisms and thoughtful sayings on her walls — but it was her character that spoke volumes.
Besides serving as a Sunday school teacher and communion bread baker, she also was a mainstay on the meal list, provided selfless generosity and served as perennial ham-and-beans dinner host for evangelists visiting Eastland for gospel meetings — a lengthy tradition that ends literally this week. She became a second mother to some, a loyal and faithful confidant for others, and a role model for everyone, occasionally opening her home to families in a tight spot who needed a safe place to stay.
When congregants saw Mary approach their house with her well-worn wooden crate carrying a warm meal or delectable dessert, they knew they were in for a treat.
Mary had a habit of warning younger folks: "Don't get old. It's a trick" — as well as saying "Anyway" as a catch-all transition.
"Anyway."
She was preceded in death by her husband, Donald E. Boatright; her brother Tommy Hardison; and her sister Dixie Poole.
Survivors include her son, Scott Boatright (Heather); daughter Julie Boatright (Todd Turner); daughter Donna Boatright; two grandchildren, Kate and Ty; and her sister Ann Stidger (Wade).
The funeral is 6 p.m. Monday, April 15, 2024, at Fern Creek Funeral Home, 5406 Bardstown Road; visitation is 3 p.m. Monday until time of the service.
In lieu of flowers, please consider contributions to Florida College (floridacollege.edu/give/make-a-gift), where her grandchildren attend.