Mary Matthews Yunkes, Various Parishes, Louisiana File prepared and submitted by Donald W. Johnson ------------------------------------------------------------------ ************************************************* Submitted to the LAGenWeb Archives ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** . ------------------------------------------------------------------ Obituary published in The Advocate on: 10/9/98 YUNKES, MARY MATTHEWS Age 96, she succumbed to cancer on Monday, Oct. 5, 1998, after a brief and sudden illness. Until recently, she was strong and active and enjoyed weekly volunteer work for her church of 50 years, as well as daily work, weather permitting, maintaining the grounds and plantings of her Morning Glory Avenue home. She was born in 1902, second among eight children, at the Darlington farm of her parents, William P. Matthews, a prominent planter and longtime president of St. Helena Parish Police Jury, and the former Blanche Freeman of Hickory Hill Plantation, Wilson. She married Julius Yunkes of Bayou Sara in 1921 and they had been married 59 years when he died in 1981. She was a graduate of Silliman Academy and LSU, where she obtained a master’s degree in education, her chosen career. She began teaching in St. Francisville and then went on to teach for more than 50 years in Baton Rouge schools, where she had the pleasure of seeing hundreds of her students go on to positions of leadership in the community. She received many honors during her career, including "Outstanding Teacher in the Parish" in 1965 to 1966, and she was elected president of each of her several teachers associations. Her lifelong interest in student sports, especially football, included a stint as the first football coach at Magnolia School and the awarding of an "honorary coach" team jacket at Istrouma High School. She was attended at her death and during her final days by loving family members, and they report that her passing was a painless and peaceful one. She was predeceased by a daughter, Marion Y. Donnelly of St. Petersburg, Fla., as well as five of her seven siblings. She is survived by her daughter, Joyce Y. Speck, Dallas; eight grandchildren, F. Paul Naquin, SuEllen N. Hull, Nancy N. Hernandez and J. Reagan Naquin, all of Baton Rouge, and F.M. Donnelly Jr. and Anne D. Baum of St. Petersburg, Jean D. Morra, Cincinnati, and Lynne Donnelly, Durham, N.H.; 16 great-grandchildren and two great-great -grandchildren. She is also survived by sisters, Rebecca Matthews Carter, Greensburg, and Doris Matthews McLean, Morning Glory Avenue, Baton Rouge. A "Happy 95th Birthday" celebration held for her in 1997 had more than a hundred attendees, including nearly all of her surviving family members and their spouses and offspring, as well as old friends, past students, member of her church, sororities and other organizations. She was a member of Alpha Delta Kappa, Phi Lambda Pi, St. Margaret’s Guild, Trinity Episcopal Church Altar Guild, National Education Association, National Retired Teachers Association and many other professional and post-professional groups. Funeral arrangements are being made privately, but a public memorial service will be conducted by the Rev. Ralph Howe at Trinity Episcopal Church, 3552 Morning Glory Avenue, at 1:30 p.m. Monday. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to Trinity Episcopal Church, in the memory of this remarkable woman who has led such a remarkable and long life in our community.