Mary Woolard Dowdy Harris

Published 7:08 pm Tuesday, January 16, 2018

Mary Woolard Dowdy Harris, 91, died Monday, Jan. 8, 2018. Born in Washington, North Carolina, she was a longtime Peninsula resident. She was a member of St. Joseph Catholic Church for many years before moving to Newport News in her later years and attending St. Jerome Catholic Church. She retired from civil service with the Continental Army Command in 1981 after 37 years of service.

She enjoyed ceramics, knitting, crocheting, working puzzles and playing cards, but she truly enjoyed the time she spent with her St. Joseph rosary group who visited shut-ins.

Mary was preceded in death by her first husband, Ray Dowdy; her second husband, Robert Harris; her parents, Dan and Maria Woolard; her brother and sister-in-law, Herbert and Lou Woolard; and her sister, Dorothy Small. She is survived by her children, Dee Jordan and her husband, Robert, of Poquoson; three sons, Larry Dowdy and his wife, Ava, of Vienna, VA, Michael Dowdy and his wife, Diana, of Stafford, VA, and Dave Dowdy of Ft. Lauderdale, FL; two step-daughters, Dixie Jesse and Linda Smith, both of Ohio, and their families; seven grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren; and two great-great-grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 11 a.m., Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018, at St. Jerome Catholic Church. Interment will follow in Peninsula Memorial Park. The family will receive friends from 4-5:30 p.m. Tuesday at R. Hayden Smith Funeral Home with a Rosary Service beginning at 5:30 p.m.

Memorials may be made to the Little Sisters of the Poor, St. Joseph’s Home, 1503 Michaels Road, Henrico, VA 23229-4822.