Mary F. Craighead

Mary Holloway Fulton Craighead passed away peacefully at her home in Martingham, St. Michaels, MD, on Monday, January 13, 2003, at the age of 79. Born February 23, 1923, in Newark, OH, she was the older daughter of the late Robert Guthrie and Anne Holloway Fulton. Having grown up in Wilton, CT, she graduated from the Low-Heywood School for Girls in Stamford, CT, in 1940. In December of 1943, she graduated from Smith College in the first accelerated class and immediately joined the Office of Strategic Services in Washington, DC, as a Research Analyst in the Far East Division. At the end of World War II, she held a similar position in the U. S. Steel Corporation in New York City. On February 11, 1950, she married J. Thomas Craighead in New York City where he was a resident in Internal Medicine at Bellevue Hospital. Over the course of the next twenty-four years, she accompanied her husband to various Navy and Marine Corps posts during his career as a Medical Officer in the U. S. Navy. Following his retirement, the couple made their home in Talbot County, MD, with their four children. Mrs. Craighead was not only an active and loving homemaker, but an avid gardener and churchwoman; her other accomplishments in a full life include: Founder and Past President of the Talbot County League of Women Voters, member and Past President of the Garden Club of the Eastern Shore, member of the Smith College Club of Washington, DC, and a member of the Harbor Club of Easton. She was also a life member of the Church of Christ Scientist in Boston, MA, and a member of Christ Church, St. Michaels. Surviving in addition to her husband of fifty-three years, Dr. J. Thomas Craighead, are three children: The Rev. J. Thomas Craighead, Jr. of Vashon Island, WA; Mary Holloway Craighead (Holly) of Trappe, MD; and William Rodgers Craighead of San Diego, CA; and five grandchildren. A son, Robert Fulton Craighead, died in 1983, and a sister, Carol Stafford, died in 2002. Funeral services will be held on Saturday, January 18, at 11 A.M. at Christ Church, St. Michaels, MD. Burial at the Oxford Cemetery, Oxford, MD, will be private. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations in her memory may be made to the Smith College Alumnae Fund, 30 Elm Street, North Hampton, MA 01063. Funeral arrangements are by Fellows, Helfenbein and Newnam Funeral Home, P.A., Easton.