Mary Batts Zollicoffer

MARY BATTS ZOLLICOFFER died September 11th 2024 after a battle with the devastating disease called Dementia. She was 92 years old and the loving mother to 4 boys, Michael, Kevin, Lowell and Bernard. She was in home hospice with Gilchrist and died peacefully at home. She was soon surrounded in peace with her boys and her good friend nurse Lizzy. Mary was born July 5th 1932 in Edgecomb County near Tarboro, NC. She was the first child born to the union of John “Jack” Batts and Effie Ree Gorham. She attended primary and secondary school in Edgecomb County and graduated from Conetoe High School on or around 1947. After graduation she went to Winston-Salem Teachers College now known as Winston-Salem State University and graduated with a degree in Early Childhood Education and became an elementary school teacher. She loved her time at college and there she met lifelong friends and also her best friend Vivian Giles who preceded her in death. She would tell her sons about how they would sneak out the dorms and would have to pull each other back through the windows because they would stay out past curfew. She thought that was so funny. Stupid, crazy girls-she would say! But always said that was not me. I was a good girl. She remembers fondly being a Winston-Salem State alumna and attending the 50 year class reunion with Vivian Giles by her side. They thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Two good friends are now “back together again”!! Let us hope they follow the dorm rules. Mary soon found herself in Belhaven, NC where she began teaching after graduation from college. While there she met a living legend. This man who could beat everyone in town in checkers and had graduated from A & T at the age of 17 after entering at the age of 13. He wanted to be a doctor, they say. But only wanted to attend the University of North Carolina but could not because they were not yet allowing Blacks into their institution. This brilliant man waited 10 years of his life and soon became the 4th African American to attend the medical school. Mom was there through it all and soon married the love of her life-Zolly!! She then taught elementary school in Chapel Hill, NC while her husband-Zolly, the late Dr Lawrence Zollicoffer, attended medical school. She also taught in Washington, DC while her Zolly was an intern. She loved teaching but most of her teaching was for her 4 boys as she was a wonderful and dedicated mother and housewife most of her life. She took great pride in raising her sons as they were her heart! In fact she is known to have said on numerous occasions, “I wish my sons and I could just sit on this porch for the rest of our lives!! No work, no women, just us!” And she meant it! After Zolly’s death in 1976 of colon cancer, she worked at Fashion Bug, and then at the Carrollton Bank. She was known as a dedicated worker. She made friendships on those jobs, that carried on to her death. Later in life and until the pandemic she worked for 25 plus years with her son Michael as an administrative assistant at his medical practice. Michael would describe her as not a worker, she was just “MA, she has no title!” The patients remember “Ms Z”, as she was affectionately called, as the lady that would remind us of our appointments. She loved talking to them all and they still miss her and those reminder phone calls. Mary was an active member of Concord Baptist Church since 1976. She believed in a higher power and served the church as a “behind-the-scenes” Parishioner. She would help with the clean-up, food prep and everyday mundane task to keep the church functioning. What may have been mundane to some was a labor of love for Mary! She believed and saw the world from a different eye. One man was not better than another no matter what position he had in life. You see, Mary and her husband were unpretentious and humble and taught their 4 boys the same! She enjoyed going on church trips also, usually with Merdis Berthau, her husband’s sister. Merdis became the older sister she never had and Mary loved her dearly. Although she never talked about it much Mary was a fighter. She battled breast cancer twice and won and also vascular disease, glaucoma and congestive heart failure. She never gave up. She was a fighter and fought the awful disease of dementia until her death! That is right. “Ms Z” was “something else” and she should inspire us all to always fight and “never give up”!! As stated earlier, she and Zolly lived by one theme, never, ever think you are better than anyone else!! BE HUMBLE!! And that is the lesson she gave her sons. One they will never forget!! As Mary says goodbye she leaves us with one message - ALWAYS BE HUMBLE AND CARE FOR OTHERS MORE THAN YOURSELF! It is a life lesson for us all!! She leaves her sons Michael, Kevin, Lowell and Bernard; her 2 grandchildren, Mya and Lauren; her sister, Johnnie Ree (deceased), a brother, John Batts; her beloved nieces and nephews Sylvia Lunsford (husband Lennie), Gary Joyner (wife Peaches), Frank Joyner, Reuben Joyner (wife Edna), Carlton Joyner (deceased), Alicia Joyner (deceased), Cheryl Berthau, Shelia Manley (husband Scottie), and a host of friends including a special friend and co-worker Elizabeth “Liz” Williams (we call her saint Liz), sister-in-law Merdis Berthau (who was like a sister), also her neighbor and son number 5 Grant Martin (words could not express our thanks to him and what they meant to each other)

Tributes

Mary Batts Zollicoffer

July 5, 1932 - September 11, 2024