Mary Clark

A ride in an old Dodge pickup in Decatur's Christmas parade Monday is never going to feel better for Jerry Holt and passenger Mary Clark.
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Jerry Holt and Mary Clark in the 1953 Dodge pickup in which she learned to drive.
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I decided to enter it in the parade, and Mary agreed to ride with me."
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Mary, 77, never reopened the store after her husband's death.She auctioned off the store in September 1998.

"We had talked about it.He told me if he should go first, he didn't want me running it by myself," she said."So after 45 good years, it was over."

She will be thinking about the great relationship she and her husband had, and once the parade reaches Second Avenue Southeast and East Moulton Street, in sight of the old store building, she, no doubt, will feel a rush of memories.

She recalls that on the last day of his life, a Saturday, a heat spell descended on North Alabama.
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Harrison treated the young Clark "like one of his own children," Mary said.
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"She belonged to Central Baptist Church, and he was a member of Central United Methodist," Mary said.
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"Every customer loved him," Mary said."He'd go out of the way to help anyone.It was during World War II, and everything was scarce, especially items such as coffee and soap, and anything with sugar in it."

Mary, who worked as an operator for Southern Bell, boarded with a woman who was the granddaughter of Harrison's wife.
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Mary still attends Central Baptist, where she is a member of the ukulele band.

"We play at schools and nursing homes.We hope the people enjoy it," she said.