02/21/2025
I feel like so many of our wonderful customers knew my Mama - that sweet lady who made your Key Lime Pie crusts! She went into the arms of Jesus Tuesday afternoon, one week shy of her 97th birthday.
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Mary "Gran" Ridgeway, lovingly known as Mrs. Mary, age 96, passed peacefully from her home on Dauphin Island into the arms of Jesus on February 18, 2025.
Born Mary Lou Sykes on February 25, 1928, in Holopaw, Florida; she was the daughter of John M. Sykes and Elvira Rigney Sykes. She grew up in a large family alongside her siblings William Sykes, Toby Sykes, Wesley Sykes, Lesley Sykes, Vivian Griffin, Clifford Sykes, Ella Mae Swilley, and Barbara McCoy, all of whom proceeded her in death.
Gran was also preceded in death by her husband, Thomas E. Ridgeway; her sons, Clifford E. Ridgeway and Thomas S. Ridgeway; daughter-in-law, Annette Ridgeway; and her faithful companion, Chipper.
She is survived by her children Robert W. Ridgeway (Laura) and Teresa Ridgeway; her grandchildren Leslie Forsman (Jonathan), Carrie Dauphin (Ray Charles), Amy Wilson (Scott), and Jennifer Cooley (Bryan); her great-grandchildren, Savanah Johnston, Emily Blackwell (Joey), Matthew Dauphin (Laura), Benjamin Dauphin, Sarah Forsman, Parker Wilson (Savana), Elliot Cooley, and Charles Cooley; and her great-great granddaughters, Jacquelyn Parmer and Landree Jo Wilson. She is also survived by nieces, nephews, grandnieces, grandnephews and many other relatives and friends.
Above all else, Gran was a faithful servant of the Lord. She was a member of Life Church (formerly Lott Road Baptist Church) for over 50 years and most recently was a member of Dauphin Island Baptist Church. She prayed for so many people in her, almost, 97 years. People wanted her prayers because she had a hot-line to heaven. By definition - she was an exemplary Christian because she was, indeed, Christ-Like. Proverbs 31 was written for women like Gran.
Gran’s devotion to her family was unwavering. In her younger years she worked as a “soda-jerk” at a drug store and later as an operator for South Central Bell. Once she started her family, she become a full-time mother and homemaker and she was outstanding in that important career. Only after her children were older did she return to the work force. First as a substitute school teacher, and then after teaching herself to type, she became a receptionist until she retired. After retirement she devoted many hours of volunteer work to various church related activities. Her last “job” was making key lime pie crusts for her daughter’s food service business and those pies became legendary.
What an incredible legacy she leaves. She will be missed so much, by so many. But she was ready to go to her eternal home where she knew she would see her husband and children that she lost while on earth. Everyone who knew her and loved her finds solace in the fact that they will see her again one day.
Services will be held at Mobile Memorial Gardens on February 22, 2025. Visitation is from 11AM til 12 Noon with the memorial service immediately following. There will be a repass from 1PM until 3PM at the Tillman’s Corner Community Center, 5055 Carol Plantation Road.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in her name to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital or Mercy Ships - two charities that she supported monthly for many years.
