Tyrone, Mary

TYRONE (Clayton), Mary Munday

Mary Munday Clayton Tyrone passed away on Friday, January 5, 2024. She was born in August of 1941, in Tupelo, Mississippi, to Bronson and Claude Clayton, the eldest of their three children, and attended Tupelo High School, where she graduated in 1959. She won multiple academic awards including for achievement in English and was honored to be a Tupelo Homecoming Maid and a Duchess in the Memphis Cotton Carnival.

Mary Munday attended Sophie Newcomb College at Tulane University, where she graduated in 1963. She continued her emphasis in English Literature making the Dean's List for academic achievement, becoming a member of the Chi Omega Sorority, and receiving numerous social awards including 1963 Tulane Homecoming Maid of Honor.

In 1963, she married Nelson Otis Tyrone, Jr., then a medical student at Tulane University. She continued her study of English Literature at the Tulane Graduate School. They then moved to Charlottesville, Virginia, for three years for Nelson's residency. While in Charlottesville Mary Munday taught English at Lane High School, continued her studies for her graduate degree in English at the University of Virginia, and gave birth to their oldest child Nelson Otis Tyrone III.

After spending two years in New York for Nelson's fellowship in Urology they settled in Columbus, Georgia, where Mary Munday gave birth to their second child, Mary Munday Clayton Tyrone. In addition to raising her family Mary Munday continued to be a voracious reader of literature. She became an accomplished equestrian hunter-jumper with Midland Fox Hounds and served on the board of the Anne Elizabeth Shepherd Home.

Following the death of her husband Nelson in 1987, Mary Munday moved to Atlanta, and over time was joined there by both of her adult children and their families. She continued her interest in Literature, Contemporary Art, and American Folk Art. She enjoyed traveling to explore the world and to visit family and friends. She particularly enjoyed her many trips with her sister, Bronson to London, Oxford, San Francisco, Palo Alto, Boston, and New York. She will be remembered by all who knew her as a warm, charming, and sophisticated woman of many talents.

Mary Munday is survived by her sister, Bronson Oosterhuis (Paul); her brother, Claude Clayton Jr. (Nelda); her children, Mary Munday Clayton Howell (Barrett), and Nelson Otis Tyrone III (Leslie); her grandchildren, Barrett, Sheffield, McGowan, and Munday; her nieces, Liz Delasobera (Octavio), Frances Clayton (Jessi Hempel), Jana Oosterhuis; and nephew, Claude Clayton III (Roxie). She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Nelson Jr.; and her beloved nephew, Christopher.

A Memorial Service for Mary Munday will be held in the chapel at All Saints' Episcopal Church in Atlanta on Saturday, February 17, at 3:00 PM; reception immediately following. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to the Anne Elizabeth Shepherd Home in Columbus, Georgia, or the American Heart Association.

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