Mary Frances Byrd Otts, 99, died Friday, March 15, 2019.
Mrs. Otts was born March 17, 1919, to Henry Carson and Addie May Byrd in Wilmington, N.C. A graduate of New Hanover High School and East Carolina University, where she earned a degree in history and business, she taught high school for several years before joining the American Red Cross in 1944. Sent to Cirencester, England, where she helped operate a clubmobile that served soldiers at various hospitals around the city, she continued to work in France and Germany. Upon moving back to the U.S., she worked for a time in Los Angeles and Wilmington, N.C., and moved to Brewton, where her husband opened a law practice, when she got married in 1948. She worked a short while at the Department of Human Resources and was an active volunteer in the Brewton Civic League, Meadorwood Garden Club and First Presbyterian Church.
The funeral was held at 3 p.m., Sunday, March 17, at Union Cemetery with Rev. Parker Johnson officiating. Burial followed with Williams Memorial Chapel Funeral Home directing.
Mrs. Otts is survived by four daughters, Harriett (Mike) Godwin and Beth Sutton, both of Brewton, and Mary Lee (Joe) Watson of Spanish Fort and Frances (Chip) Maxwell of Nashville; six grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.
Mrs. Otts was preceded in death by her husband of 67 years, Lee McMillan Otts; her parents; and three siblings, Henry Carson Byrd, Jr., Jennings Byrd and Dorothy Byrd Hardy.
