Life-long Viola resident Mary Katherine Gaffin, 97, died Wednesday, April 17 at her home in Viola.
A retired teacher and homemaker, Mrs. Gaffin was a member of the Viola Church of Christ for 82 years. As a teacher, she taught in Morrison and Viola. She was the manager of the first Sears Roebuck Catalog store in McMinnville. She was also the first woman to take the census in Warren County, and the first woman to ever participate as a member of a jury in Warren County. Mrs. Gaffin was a former postmaster of the United States Post Office in Viola. She was an active member of the Viola Woman’s Improvement Club and the United Daughters of the Confederacy for many years. In 2007, she was honored by being named as a Warren County Woman of Achievement.
Mrs. Gaffin was preceded in death by her husband of 68 years, Walter Clark (Red) Gaffin; her parents, Robert Lee Stone and Beaulah Beachboard Stone; her sister, Josephine Stone Walker (formerly of Los Angeles, Calif.); and her brother Mack Stone.
She is survived by her children; daughter, Mary Clarke Gonder of Schenectady, N.Y.; her son and daughter-in-law, Robert and Teresa Gaffin of Huntsville, Ala.; daughter, Carolyn Garretson of Viola; daughter and son-in-law, Becky and Pat Russell of Scottsboro, Ala.; sister, Bobbie Allen of Rice, Texas; nine grandchildren, 13 great-grandchildren, and six great-great grandchildren.
Funeral service will be at 2 p.m. Saturday, April 20 in the McMinnville Funeral Home Chapel. Dr. Nobie H. Stone and Bro. Kevin Deason will officiate. Interment will follow at Viola Cemetery. The Gaffin Family will receive friends Friday from 4 to 8 p.m. and again Saturday from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. at the parlors of McMinnville Funeral Home. Online condolences may be made at www.mcminnvillefuneralhome.com.
McMinnville Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
Southern Standard
(McMinnville, Tenn.) April 19, 2013