Mary Handley (Watt) Sorum

Mary Handley Watt Sorum, aged 86, died Tuesday, March 13th at Deerfield Episcopal Retirement Community in Asheville, NC. She was born on September 9,1931 in Luebo, Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Belgian Congo) to John Franklin Watt and Georgia McKay Watt, both now deceased. She graduated from Flora MacDonald College in Red Springs, North Carolina, and received a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing from the Medical College of Virginia.

Mary moved to New Orleans, LA, and worked at what was then known as Baptist Hospital. On August 2, 1962, she married William Robert Sorum, MD. They were married for twenty-six years, until his death in 1988. She served on the vestries of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church and later at Christ Church Cathedral. She also served on the Commission on Ministry for the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana. She began her work in hospice as a pastoral care volunteer at University Hospice at Hotel Dieu, where she subsequently resumed her nursing career as patient care coordinator. She moved to Deerfield in 2009. There, she served as president of the Resident’s Council, which also made her a member of the Board of Directors during that term. She was a member of the American Nurses Association and the National Hospice Organization.

Mary is survived by her three children, Mary Sorum McCaffery (Thomas McCaffery, III), Margaret Ann Sorum, and William Arne Sorum, and her two grandchildren, Margaret Ransom McCaffery, and Thomas Dalton McCaffery, IV. She is also survived by her nephews, Robert Jordan and John Jordan, and her niece, Mary Margaret Jordan McLeod. She was preceded in death by her sister, Margaret Watt Jordan and her two brothers, John Franklin Watt, Jr, and William McKay Watt.

There will be a memorial service on Tuesday, March 20th in the Healthcare Chapel at Deerfield. Her ashes will be interred in the columbarium at Christ Church Cathedral in New Orleans. The date of this service is yet to be determined. In lieu of flowers, a donation may be sent to the Deerfield Employee Appreciation Fund, c/o Deerfield Episcopal Retirement Community, 1617 Hendersonville Rd, Asheville, NC 28803; or CarePartners Hospice Foundation, PO Box 25338, Asheville, NC.

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