Mary Cantrell Underwood

Mary’s Special Memories

Mary Cantrell Underwood, 81, loving mother and wife, of Oak Ridge passed away after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease on August 15 with family and clergy with her.

God blessed all of us when Mary Juanita Cantrell (Tootsie) was born on 12/17/1942 in Sylva, North Carolina to Kathryn McLain and Robert T. Cantrell. She soon moved to Oak Ridge where her father worked at the Y-12 Plant and where she called home for the rest of her life. As a youngster she enjoyed visiting her grandparent’s farm in Sylva where, as first McLain grandchild, never lacked for attention from her grandparents, uncles and aunt. As she grew older she enjoyed learning to attend to several of the farm animals.

She attended Cedar Hill and Pine Valley Elementary Schools, Jefferson Junior High, and Oak Ridge High School where she graduated in 1960. She than enrolled at East Tennessee University(ETSU) in Johnson City where she was a member of the Sigma Kappa Sorority, and obtained a degree in Elementary Education and Spanish.

Mary met her husband Jim in Oak Ridge on Labor Day, 1963, the day before leaving for her senior year in college. Their meeting slowly evolved into a long distance, loving, romantic, letter writing, telephone calling, traveling back and forth, courtship until her graduation in June.

They were married on July 3, 1964 in the First United Methodist Church where she was a lifetime member. They traveled to Bermuda for their honeymoon and enjoyed it, so much, they returned for a second honeymoon several years later.

In the fall of 1964 Mary began her elementary school teaching career at Cedar Hill Elementary School in Oak Ridge, where she started school as a child. She eventually moved to Woodland

Elementary School where she continued teaching until retirement in 2004. Her teaching was, however, interrupted when she had two loving sons, Doug (1969) and Mike (1973) and became a “stay at home mom” until they entered school. It was very evident the most important thing in Mary’s life was her family, especially her two sons for whom she was extremely proud. Mary spent most of their off-work time raising and supporting their two sons in numerous school and sports activities (football/baseball/track/basketball). She also really enjoyed helping teach them to snow ski and skiing with them at resorts all over the country. Being an educator most of her life, she was especially proud when they both obtained their college degrees.

Mary was introduced to snow skiing and tennis by her husband, Jim, and became very proficient at both. She was a member, with Jim, of the National Ski Patrol (NSP) from 1980 to 2017 where she was appointed the Southern Division Auxiliary Advisor. She later chaired the development of the Division Patroller Enrichment Seminar which was later incorporated into the National Training System. In 1996 she received the NSP Leadership Commendation Award (#8153) for all dedicated work for the NSP. She and Jim were also members of the Knoxville Ski Club thru which they took several Rocky Mountain ski vacations. Mary was also a member of a Knoxville Senior Woman’s Tennis Team that participated in several State and National Tournaments in which she and her team did very well.

During the summer months Mary and Jim liked to visit and hike national parks in the US and Canada from Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia to the Tetons to Vancouver Island to Alaska with many other destinations in between.

In Oak Ridge she was an active member of Christian Homemaking Circle of the First United Methodist Church and Oak Ridge Panhellenic Alumnae Association.

Mary was preceded in death by mother and father Kathryn Cantrell and Robert Cantrell of Oak Ridge.

She is survived by her husband Jim, her sons Douglas and wife Wendy from Bountiful, UT,

Michael and wife Vicki from Huntsville, AL, and her brother Bob Cantrell Jr. and wife Marie from Oak Ridge.

She is also survived by five grandchildren: Taylee Foulger of Salt Lake City, Jordan Gilson of Boise, Idaho and Kelsi, Tanner, and Easton Brock from Huntsville, AL, and two great grand children, Knox and Beckham Sellers of Huntsville, AL.

God bless her physicians and clergy along with all the nurses and caregivers at Keystone Adult Day Care, Commonwealth Senior Living, and Tennova Hospice who provided professional, loving care to Mary.

A special loving thank you should also to Mary’s cousin from Washington State, Michele Humble, who, for over a year, sent several hand written cards each week that we could read to Mary and she would really enjoy.

A Celebration of life services will be held at First United Methodist Church in Oak Ridge on Friday, August 30. Receiving of friends will begin 1:00 PM with the church service following at 2:00 PM. Interment of ashes will follow the service in the church memorial garden.

In lieu of flowers please send donations to the Oak Ridge Boys and Girls Club, 102 S Jefferson Circle, PO Box 4021, Oak Ridge, TN 37830 or the Keystone Elder Day Care Center at the First United Methodist Church, 1350 Oak Ridge Turnpike, Oak Ridge, TN, 37831.

Mott-McKamey Funeral Home and Cremations is assisting the Underwood family.