December 21, 1919 – February 5, 2000

by Mary Louise Gregory Wilson, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Winston-Salem, NC, 2016

Mary Louise Riddick was born December 21, 1919, to Louise Josey and Neusom Allsbrook Riddick in Scotland Neck, North Carolina. She was baptized (1920), confirmed (1931), and married (1946) at Trinity Church in Scotland Neck. In 1938 she graduated from St. Mary’s College in Raleigh where she was president of the student body, and in 1940 from Woman’s College (now University of North Carolina at Greensboro).

After working in Pinehurst and Virginia Beach during World War II, she met and married Fletcher Harrison Gregory, Jr., a decorated Army Air Corps pilot, in 1946. He took her to Weldon, North Carolina, where he worked in the family banking business. Mary Louise and Fletcher became pillars of Grace Church in Weldon. There they raised their four children: Mary Louise, Boyd Thorne, Nancy Neusom, and Fletcher Harrison III.

Mary Louise’s duties as a churchwoman included everything from chairing the Altar Guild and arranging for yard maintenance to having the Bishop for lunch every year during the annual visitation. She did not consent to stand for the Vestry until her husband died.

Mary Louise Riddick Gregory was known far and wide for her love of people and animals and for her efforts to improve the lives of both. Her life was a testament to the power of love and an affirmation that being a wife and mother is God’s highest calling. She represented Jesus and the Episcopal Church admirably throughout Halifax County and eastern North Carolina.

She died on February 5, 2000. Her funeral at Grace Church was joyous, and there was standing room only. She and her beloved husband Fletcher are buried in Old Trinity Cemetery in Scotland Neck.