The funeral services for the late Mrs. Mary Frances Ewings Nelson, who departed this life on Monday, August 14, 2023 at Colquitt Senior Care & Rehabilitation Center in Moultrie, Georgia, will be held on Saturday, August 19, 2023 at 3:00 p.m. from the New Vision Worship Center in Sylvester, Georgia. The Pastor, Reverend Ronnie Banks, will deliver the Eulogy. Burial will follow in the Shepard Memorial Garden Cemetery in Sylvester, Georgia. Services may be viewed Facebook Live from the “Shipps Funeral Home” Facebook page or by clicking the Video Stream Link on this site's Home Page.

Mrs. Mary Frances Ewings Nelson was born on October 25, 1937 in Worth County, Georgia to the late Mr. and Mrs. Warren Ewings, Sr. and Dollie Mae Lamar Ewings. Mary was educated in the Worth County Public School System. She lived a great part of her adult life in Avon Park, Florida before moving back to Georgia working with kids. She loved kids but naturally never had any of her own. She adopted her nieces and nephews as her children. She worked as a private sitter and CNA for years before working with the Worth County Board of Education. She loved working at Backyard Buddies, loving on all the babies, until she couldn’t work anymore.

Mary joined New Bethel Baptist Church, in the Sumner community, under the leadership of Reverend B. W. Washington, at an early age and served faithfully. In 2015, she became a disciple of New Vision Worship Center under the leadership of Pastor Ronnie G. Banks. She served faithfully until her health wouldn’t allow her to serve anymore.

If you knew Mary, you knew she was better known as “May”. May would always pick up the telephone, checking on her family and friends and if you give her the opportunity, May would pull up on you!

On August 14, 2023, at Cobblestone Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center in Moultrie, Georgia, Mary humbly accepted God’s call to Eternal Rest. Mary was preceded in death by her husband Richard Hadley; her parents, Warren Ewings, Sr. and Dollie Mae Lamar Ewings; brothers, Warren Ewings, Jr., John D. Ewings, Franklin Roosevelt; aunts, Emma L. Hall, Maggie Lamar, Gussie Pear Lamar, Helen Burch; uncles, John Henry Hall, J. D. Lamar, Sr., Benjamin Lamar; nieces, Whitney Jordan, Mickey Ewings; nephews, Wenford Ewings, Phillip Ewings; cousins that were more like sisters, Irene P. Hall, Johnnie Mae Carter.

Her life and legacy lives on through her nieces, Vernesta Jordan of Sylvester, Georgia, Fabrienne Climes of Decatur, Georgia, Laconya Tunstell of Lilburn, Georgia; nephew, Gregory Ewings, Sr. of Sylvester, Georgia; great nieces and nephews, Linda Gardner, Annie (Vernando) Toomer, Shamonica Andrews, Courtney Jordan, Tonia (Raymond) Miley, Cindy (Spencer) Johnson, Khajuanna Carithers, Bretta Carithers, Lance Carithers, Shalynda Carithers, Channing (Courtney) Carithers, Raquel Ewings, Gregory Ewings, Jr., Theodore (Elizabeth) Ewings, Andrea Climes, and Sheryl (Timothy) Millett; a very special niece who she raised as her child, Kaylee Toomer; a close friend that has been like a sister to her, Doretha Crawford; two that have been like sons to her, Marvin Jones, Anthony Wilson; and a host of other relatives and friends.