Mary Gene Everitt Elliott of Oxford, GA passed away on June 13, 2015 at Abbey Hospice. She was born on August 4, 1934 in Atlanta to the late Claudine Faulkner Everitt and William Floyd Everitt. Mary Gene grew up in Covington, but employment took their family to Greenville, SC in the late 1940’s, where she graduated from Greenville High School in 1952. She attended the University of Georgia where she was a Fine Art major and a member of the Zeta Tau Alpha sorority.
In 1955, Mary Gene returned to Covington to marry and raise a family. She worked for the Newton County Board of Education as a testing coordinator for many years, and also had her own picture-framing business for a time. She was an accomplished artist, enjoying oil painting and drawing, and created miniature clay sculptures of her friend’s children. She was very involved in the community with groups such as the Sergeant Newton Chapter DAR, the Covington Garden Club, Friends of the Library, the Oxford Shrine Society working to save Old Church, and the Oxford Tree Board. In 1971 she was the founder and first President of the Newton County Historical Society, and remained a lifetime member. She was a researcher and writer assisting her aunt, Jinx Faulkner in compiling the History of Newton County, published by the Historical Society in 1988. Mary Gene was a longtime member of Covington First United Methodist Church, a Scout leader, talented gardener, seamstress and an amazing single mom.
In 1975, Mary Gene married the late James H. Elliott, Jr. and moved to Atlanta where she helped Jim run the Atlanta Museum and J.H. Elliott Antiques on Peachtree Street. They enjoyed traveling and working antique shows together throughout the Southeast and New England. They were avid supporters and Charter members of the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation, where they first met on a tour. They also enjoyed attending Scottish Highland Games where they often hosted the Elliot Clan tents and were patrons of the various regional Games. Mary Gene was a Sponsor of the Stone Mountain Highland Games for more than 30 years and a hard-working volunteer on the Grounds Committee for at least half that time.
Mary Gene was very active on the state and national level of the Daughters of the American Revolution, where she served as State Chaplain, Recording Secretary, Corresponding Secretary and Organizing Secretary in the years 1986 through 1998. She was National Chairman of DAR Press Books from 1989-1992. She was past Regent of the Joseph Habersham Chapter in Atlanta and a current active member of the Sergeant Newton Chapter in Covington. Mary Gene was on the State Advisory Board for Tamassee DAR School and established a scholarship endowment fund there for the students in 2008.
Along with her love of history, Mary Gene’s passion and favorite pastime was genealogy. She had thoroughly researched her own family, and assisted countless others in pursuit of their lineage. She was a wealth of knowledge and quick to offer assistance to other genealogists she met at the archives and later online. She will be sorely missed within her research circles.
Mary Gene is survived by her brother and sister-in-law, Bill and Amelia (Fusaro) Everitt of Atlanta, also her four devoted children and spouses, Walker Campbell, Jr. (Courtney Christian) of Raleigh, NC, Claudia Callaway (William S. Callaway, III) of Covington, Richard Campbell of Plano, TX and Bill Campbell of Covington. Mary Gene was the proud grandmother of six wonderful grandchildren: Meghan Campbell of Chicago, IL, Sean Campbell of Savannah, Austin Campbell of Nashville, TN, and Grace Callaway, Catherine Campbell and Everitt Campbell, all of Covington. She also leaves behind a number of nieces and nephews, cousins and many dear friends.
Funeral Services will be held at 11:00 am on Monday, June 15, 2015 at the Covington First United Methodist Church on Conyers Street, with the Rev. Louly Fowler Hay, Dr. Douglas Gilreath, and Rev. Jan McCoy officiating. The family will receive friends at Caldwell & Cowan on Floyd Street Sunday afternoon from 4-6 pm. Memorial donations may be made to the Mary Gene Elliott Scholarship Endowment fund at Tamassee DAR School, P.O. Box 8, Tamassee, SC 29686 or to the Covington First United Methodist Church, 1113 Conyers Street, Covington, GA 30014.
