Mary Katherine Butts Jordan

Mrs. Mary Katharine Butts Jordan, age 106, died peacefully at home with her daughters and son-in-law in Charleston, S.C. on November 21, 2013. A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. on Saturday, November 30, 2013, at Harts Mortuary at 765 Cherry Street, Macon, with Reverend Billy Hargrove, Pastor Emeritus of Beulah Baptist Church in Hancock County officiating. An informal reception in celebration of her life will follow at First Baptist Church, 511 High Place, Macon, from 3-4 p.m. The reception will be held in the dining hall with access either from the parking lot or the first High Street entrance. Survivors include her daughter, Katharyn Jordan Ouzts and her husband John of Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina, daughter Karolyn Jordan Carlisle of Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina, granddaughter, Susie Carlisle Stepp and her husband, a great grandson William Stepp and a great granddaughter, Cheyenne Drawhorn of Macon, Georgia. Mrs. Jordan was born Mary Katharine Butts on November 13, 1907, the second child of seven born to Arthur Irwin and Susie Poole Butts of Milledgeville, Georgia. She attended the Peabody School, the teacher training school associated with the Georgia State College for Women for elementary school and high school. Following graduation in 1924, she attended and ultimately graduated from the Georgia State College for Women in Milledgeville with a B.A. in English in 1928. After graduation she continued to live at home and "taught young teachers to teach" at G.S.C.W. During the summers, she took the packet boat to New York City to work on her M.Ed. and then her Ed.D. until World War II when she joined the Navy as a WAVE officer, and served until 1945. She was stationed at Hunter College in NYC and assigned the task of creating a course designed to teach Naval recruits Nazi aircraft identification. Her commanding admiral sent her a formal letter of commendation of which she was very proud. She married Dr. William Kendall Jordan, son of Wiley Mangham Jordan, Sr. and Martha Jane Gay Jordan of Macon, on June 5, 1945 as they were both being discharged, she from the Navy and he from the Army. The young couple remained in NYC for the next year in order for Dr. Jordan to complete a residency in obstetrics and gynecology at Bellevue Hospital. They then returned to his hometown of Macon, Georgia where he joined the busy private practice of Dr. O.R. Thompson. Twin daughters were born in August 1946. While raising her children and until she was 99, Mrs. Jordan was active in a variety of local organizations. She joined the First Baptist Church, the Nathaniel Macon Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Sidney Lanier Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the Alumnae Association of Georgia College for Women [formerly G.S.C.W.], the Women's Medical Auxiliary, the Board of the Y.W.C.A, the History Club of Macon and the League of Women Voters. For the past six years, she resided with her daughters and son-in-law in Charleston, S.C. She placed a high value on family, education, independence and service to your community. Her energy, warmth and intelligence will be sorely missed by her family and friends. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Memorial Fund of the First Baptist Church, 511 High Street, Macon, GA 31201. Harts Mortuary, 765 Cherry Street, Macon, GA 31201. (478) 746-4321.