Mabel Slay

Published 12:00 am Monday, March 22, 2010

Mabel Skinner Slay

Aug. 14, 1912 — March 19, 2010

NATCHEZ — Graveside services for Mabel Skinner Slay, 97, of Waterproof, who died in her sleep Friday, March 19, 2010, at her residence, will be 10 a.m. today at the Natchez City Cemetery with the Rev. Bob Cooper officiating.

Burial will follow under the direction of Young’s Funeral Home in Ferriday.

Mrs. Slay was born on Aug. 14, 1912, in Newellton, the daughter of Fred and Vera Johnston Skinner. When she was about 4 years old, her family moved to St. Joseph, where she grew up and graduated from high school. She received her bachelor’s degree from Louisiana State University and returned to St. Joseph to teach Latin and mathematics at Davidson High School for the next 11 years.

When her husband returned from World War II service, they lived in Monroe about 50 years. Twenty-one of those years, Mrs. Slay taught mathematics at the forerunner of the University of Louisiana at Monroe, retiring with the rank of associate professor. She received her master’s degree from Peabody College (now a part of Vanderbilt University) with additional work at the University of Colorado and the University of Mississippi.

In 1994, Mr. and Mrs. Slay returned to Tensas Parish to live close to her family on the Burn Plantation. She was a lifelong Presbyterian, but the last years of her life she was a part of Grace Episcopal Church in Waterproof.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband of 57 years, Daniel William Slay, and her brother-in-law, George Carneal Goldman.

Survivors include one sister, Vera Skinner Goldman, of Burn Plantation in Waterproof, and two nieces, Elizabeth Spencer Goldman of Franklin, Tenn., and Katherine Goldman Vaughan and husband, Earl, of Baton Rouge.

Memorials may be made to Palmer Children’s Home, 912 S. 11th Avenue, Columbus, MS, 39701, the Louisiana Salvation Army, 105 Hart Street, Monroe, LA, 71203, or a charity of your choice.

Online condolences may be made to www.youngsfh.com.