Mary LeGrand Wyatt

Mary Elizabeth LeGrand Wyatt, fondly known as ""Wishie"" passed from this life on January 16, 2011 at Consulate Health Care in Woodstock, VA. She was 91. A longtime resident of Georgia, she moved to Virginia's Shenandoah Valley in 2008. Wishie was born November 9, 1919 in Wadesboro, NC, the daughter of Mary Elizabeth Gulledge LeGrand and Robert Hampton LeGrand. She was a graduate of Wadesboro High School and attended Meredith College in Raleigh, NC, as well as Draughon Business College and Atlanta College of Art, where she met her husband, Eugene Cox Wyatt. In 1941they were married at The Church of the Transfiguration, ""The Little Church Around the Corner,"" in New York City. In addition to her roles as wife, homemaker, and mother to three children, she explored several careers and found particular success as one of Atlanta's top fashion models in the 1950s and 1960s. She also worked in public relations and newspaper reporting and served as both a medical secretary and an event planner. Wishie took special pride in her volunteer work for hospice organizations and conservation groups in Atlanta and North Georgia, including the communities of Blue Ridge and Blairsville. She was a volunteer clown for Grady Memorial Hospital and several area nursing homes. Wishie became interested in organic gardening in the 1950 and continued this passion into her late eighties. In addition, she was an active member of the Episcopal Church and The Order of the Daughters of the King. Mrs. Wyatt was preceded in death by her husband in 1964 and by her daughter, Billie Elizabeth (Holly) Wyatt, in 2001. Also predeceasing her were her parents, her brother, Dr. Robert Hampton LeGrand, and her sister, Rosannah Moore LeGrand. Survivors include two daughters, Rosemary Cox Wyatt Swope of Winchester, VA and Suzanne LeGrand Wyatt Barnett of Alpharetta, GA., son-in-law, Dr. Bernard M. Swope, granddaughters, Natalie LeGrand Swope and Marisa Anne Swope, a nephew, Dr. Robert Hampton LeGrand, Jr., and two nieces, Beth LeGrand Wilson and Betsy Hunt, grandnieces, Lynn Gregory Auringer and Mary McComas, and grandnephews, Paul Gregory, Rob LeGrand, Doug LeGrand, Clay LeGrand, George Wyatt and Whitlow Wyatt as well as many friends and her sisters in Daughters of the King. A funeral service will be held at noon at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church Decatur, Georgia on January 29, followed by burial in Decatur Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the hospice organization of your choice or to Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Woodstock, VA in honor of the Daughters of the King.

Mary LeGrand Wyatt

January 21, 2011