Mary Baker Sheffield

Mary B. Sheffield Highlands, NC~ Mary Lowell Baker Sheffield, 73, of Highlands, died Tuesday, March 11, 2008. She was the daughter of the late Rev. Rudolph Richard Baker, Sr. and Nessmith Sheffield Malone Baker. Since her father was a minister in the North Georgia Conference, she grew up in the Atlanta and surrounding areas where she completed her middle grade years in Kennesaw and high school years in Marietta. She was a teacher at the Woodward Academy Riverdale branch campus, Allen Academy in Bryan, TX and at Blue Ridge School in Cashiers, NC retiring in 1991.She was a resident of Clare Bridge in Asheville, NC at the time of her death. She was a member of the United Methodist Church in Highlands, NC. She attended East Tennessee State University before transferring to the University of Georgia in Athens where she completed her bachelor's degree. She then attended graduate school at Georgia Southern. Mary was passionate about teaching and loved the energy her students brought to the classroom. She was a writer at heart- full of imagination and deep empathy. She touched the lives of many. Surviving her is her brother, Rev. Rudolph "Rudy" Richard Baker, Jr. and his wife, Martha, of Loganville, GA; her partner, Jane Ogle Hastings of Vancouver Island, British Columbia; a daughter, Bronwen Leigh Sheffield of Clyde, NC; a son, Roy Scott Sheffield and his wife, Lisa, of Brevard, NC, both children of Mary's marriage to Roy Tip Sheffield. She had three grandchildren, Ryan Scott Sheffield-Barr, Roy Ian Sheffield-Barr and his wife, Pamela, of Raleigh, NC and Emily Louise Sheffield of Brevard, NC. Funeral services will be at 2:00 PM Saturday, March 15, 2008 in the Mausoleum Chapel of Crest Lawn Memorial Park in Decatur, GA. under the direction of A.S. Turner & Sons Funeral Home. Reverend Richard Long will officiate. The family will receive friends at the Mausoleum Chapel one hour prior to the service. Pallbearers will be R. Richard Baker, Robert B. Baker, Perry Peck, Ray Albert, Ryan S. Sheffield-Barr and R. Ian Sheffield-Barr. Memorial gifts may be made to the United Methodist Children's Home or to any benevolent fund supporting the education or well-being of children. Groce Funeral Home at Lake Julian in Arden, NC as-sisting the family locally. A memorial service will be scheduled in the near future at the Summer Chapel in Cashiers, NC.