Mary Sephus of Whitmore Cove Court, Clemmons, North Carolina was born March 9, 1921 in Harrellsville, North Carolina to Beulah White and Alfred Sharpe. She died Saturday, October 22, 2011, at Forsyth Medical Center in Winston Salem North Carolina.
She attended C.S. Brown High School in Winton, North Carolina. At the age of twenty-five, she moved to Brooklyn, New York. There, she obtained her nursing education and pediatric specialty training. She enjoyed an outstanding clinical career as a private-duty, pediatric nurse. During her remarkable life, she cared for hundreds of children and managed their transition from hospital-to-home and nurtured them during the first weeks and months of their lives. She enjoyed mentoring young mothers and other healthcare professionals in the art of lactation, infection control, infant positioning, movement and coordination, and other growth and development needs for neonates. Through God's grace, the longevity of her lifework allowed her to care for several generations of children within the same families. She was loved by all and known by many as "Grandma." While she reveled in the privilege of molding the future of children from the earliest moments of their lives, Mary was happiest in her roles as mother and grandmother.
Vincent van Gogh once said, "If one feels the need of something grand, something infinite, something that makes one feel aware of God, one need not go far to find it. I think that I see something deeper, more infinite, more eternal than the ocean in the expression of the eyes of a little baby when it wakes in the morning and coos or laughs because it sees the sun shining on its cradle." Mary Sephus was hand selected by God to work with babies because she never lost the ability to laugh aloud and appreciate simple and majestic signs that God is ever present and deserves to be praised.
She was preceded in death by her daughter, Joyce Simmons-Chase.
She leaves to mourn, her granddaughter, Dr. Chere Monique Chase-Gregory and grandson-in-law Nokomis Gregory; sister, Agnes Scranton; sister-in-law, Annie L. Sharpe; brothers, King Hezekiah Sharp, and Charlie R. Sharpe. Also in mourning are her nieces: Dr. Bernadine S. Chapman, Carolyn Faye Ivory, Shirley M. Morris, Ruth Ann Pigford, Zelvia Sharp and Lois Walton; nephews, Virgil Sharpe and Clifton White; life-long friends, Barbara and Jerry Lotterstein and Rita and Leslie Klein; and a host of grandnieces, grandnephews, many other family members and friends.
Funeral services will be conducted at 12 p.m. Thursday, October 27, 2011, at Union Baptist Church, 1200 North Trade Street with Reverend Dr. Sir Walter Lee Mack, Jr. officiating. Interment will follow in Mount Pleasant Missionary Baptist Church Cemetery, Harrellsville, NC on Friday, October 28, 2011. The family visitation will be held from 11 a.m. until 12 p.m. on Thursday at the Church.
The family would like to express a special thanks to the physicians and nurses of Forsyth Medical Center. Our family appreciates the clinical expertise and gentle caring so many showed us during this long and often difficult journey. The family owes a debt of deepest gratitude to the caregivers that assured our "Grandma" was well taken care of in her home. We thank them for the kind and remarkable way they went about their work every day. Her constant smile was renewed with each of their shifts and her life was certainly more fulfilled because of their presence. We are eternally grateful to Ruby Hawkins, Diane Hemingway, Elizabeth Johnson, and Melissa Pugh.
As a reflection of Grandma's love, generous heart, and kind spirit, the family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations are sent to the Alzheimer's Association in memorial to Mary Sephus. Donations may be sent online at http://www.alz.org or mailed to Alzheimer's Association National Office 225 N. Michigan Ave., Fl. 17, Chicago, IL 60601.