lit a candle 2d agoI don't really know this family, saw it shared by someone, New Albany Mississippi, that's not a place I've ever been. Fifty one is nothing. My aunt had hospice people near the end, not this company, a different one, but it's the same kind of work, sitting with people, and I think about that more than I used to now that I'm older myself. Anyway. Sorry for the family's loss. Edit, I looked again, three kids, one gone before her. That's a lot for one family to carry.
Their story
Mary Francis Watts Ferguson, a registered nurse from the Mantatchie and New Albany area of northeast Mississippi, died on October 23, 2026, in New Albany, Mississippi, at the age of 51, after what her family described as a long and courageous battle with cancer. She was born on October 21,…
Mary Francis Watts Ferguson, a registered nurse from the Mantatchie and New Albany area of northeast Mississippi, died on October 23, 2026, in New Albany, Mississippi, at the age of 51, after what her family described as a long and courageous battle with cancer. She was born on October 21, 1975, in Oxford, Mississippi, and spent her life close to the small communities of Itawamba and Union counties, where she was widely known for her faith, her devotion to her family, and her career caring for the sick and dying.
For much of her working life Mary was a registered nurse, a vocation her family and friends say she treated as a calling rather than simply a job. She worked for Health Connect and later for Gentiva Hospice, where she spent her final professional years tending to patients at the end of their lives. Those who knew her said she brought the same compassion to her patients' bedsides that she brought to her own home, and that she found deep meaning in being present with people during some of the hardest moments they faced.
Mary's life outside of work centered on her church and her family. She was a longtime, active member of Keownville Baptist Church in New Albany, where her faith shaped her daily life and her approach to caring for others. She was married to Don Ferguson for 27 years, and together they raised their children in Mississippi. She is survived by her husband, her daughter Brianna Ferguson, her son Aubrey Ferguson, and a granddaughter, Aubriella Ferguson, along with her parents, Ronnie and Linda Morgan, her sister Teresa Gail Williams, and four brothers. The family had already endured the loss of Mary's son, Trey Ferguson, who died before her.
Mary was not a public figure in the conventional sense, and no cause beyond her illness has been publicly detailed. Her death was first made known through a funeral home obituary published by United Funeral Service of New Albany and carried on Legacy.com, which described her as a loving, kind, and thoughtful woman whose gentle spirit touched everyone who knew her. The obituary and the responses it generated reflect the esteem in which she was held locally, particularly among the patients, colleagues, and fellow church members whose lives she touched through her nursing work and her service at Keownville Baptist Church.
Her family has arranged visitation and funeral services for the days following her death, with burial to follow at Walton Cemetery in Mantatchie, Mississippi, the community with which her name has become most closely associated.
Biography adapted from News reports and the sources cited on this page; death reported by Legacy | Obituary.
That's rough to read twice over. Hope her husband and the girls have people around them.