Mary Louise Bandy passed away on December 31, 2024 at the age of 101 at home in Nashville with family.
She was born in 1923 to John Franklin and Helen Felker in Tamaqua, PA and received her RN in nursing in Reading, PA.
Mary became the head floor nurse in the old Emergency Hospital in Washington, DC, located a block from the White House. One day she looked up to find President Truman asking her for directions to a US Senator’s room. And it was at Emergency Hospital that she met her future husband who was a medical intern.
In 1947 she married Preston H. Bandy, MD who trained in anesthesiology at the Bethesda Naval Hospital where her first two children were born. Her husband’s military career took them to California, Great Lakes, and Florida before they settled down in Nashville in 1954, now with three children and a fourth to come. Mary and her husband Preston centered their lives around immediate and extended Bandy and Felker families, PTA and Westminster Presbyterian Church.
Throughout her life, she was healthy, energetic, and vital. She and her husband were active through their lives traveling throughout the US on summer vacations with their four children, hiking in the Smokies, and tending her flower gardens. After the death of her husband, she moved into the Park Manor/Abe’s Garden Independent Living where she continued to walk and ride an exercise bicycle until age 100, staying mentally sharp by defeating all comers at Upwords.
Mary Bandy was a bright and happy face at Park Manor where she made many friends and was deeply loved by all. Her four children, four grandchildren, and one great-grandchild have been devoted to her all their lives, visiting her regularly.
Mary has outlived almost everyone in her generation, her siblings, Darleen Shaffer, Robert Felker, and Harry Felker, her parents Helen and Frank Felker, and so very many dear friends. The hardest loss for her to bear was that of her husband, Preston, 15 years ago. She is survived by her children Carole Bandy; Ross Bandy (Donna Casparian), by their two sons, Jack and Hunter Bandy (Torang Asadi) and son Mani; Beth Abrams (Larry) and son Chris; and Kathryn Leaming (Clark) and daughter Paige. All will deeply miss their mother and grandmother. We commend her to God and to a happy reunion with all who passed before her.
Memorial donations can be made to Westminster Presbyterian Church or to Alive Hospice.
Graveside service will be held at Gallatin City Cemetery at 11 AM on January 4, 2025. https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/nashville-tn
For more obituaries visit https://davidsoncountysource.com/obituaries/
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