Mary Adline Studebaker, 71, left her home in Fayetteville with her two sons by her side for her eternal home in Heaven on July 14, 2019.

“Miss Mary” as so many in Northwest Arkansas knew her was born March 26, 1948, in Washington County, Arkansas, to Angeline McGehee and Hiram Pointer.  A supportive wife, helpful sister, hard-working mother, devoted “Grammy”, excellent baker, friend, and home day care provider industry leader, Mary touched countless lives and will be greatly missed. She invested her time in children and families and in service to others, taking joy in mentoring and building up the Northwest Arkansas Family Childcare Association and its many members and providers.

Miss Mary introduced preschool children to formal class-room surroundings in a home atmosphere with family pets for 44 years. She supported, encouraged and followed learning through play while creating, providing and improving developmentally appropriate learning centers for children to make learning fun. A true industry leader, Miss Mary was a pioneer in quality child care enriching the lives of parents, preschool aged children and entire families for generations.

A life-long learner, she cultivated mentoring in Early Childhood Education and was instrumental in starting and refining mentoring programs throughout Northwest Arkansas. Mary was active and respected among peers and colleagues and an industry leading in quality home child care.  She received many awards through the years, promoted quality family day care, collaborated to provide planned programs to advance the industry.  She created, taught at and attended association workshops, encouraged provider-lead activities to increase and improve the knowledge, abilities and self-respect of caregivers.

In 1994 she became Arkansas’ First Recipient of National Accreditation by the National Association for Family Child Care.  In 1996 when there were 825 such nationally accredited child care facilities, hers was one of only two within the entire State of Arkansas.  She later achieved Arkansas Quality Approval Accreditation, crowning her with the high task of observing and evaluating other family child care homes for purposes of becoming accredited themselves as a NAFFCC Appointed Validator.

Her students will not soon forget the wooden train, the park bench with street light, the truck-loads of pea gravel she demanded for safety, with which she directed Ronnie (and anyone else she could recruit) to build a state-of-the-art outdoor play area including a swing (which married old with new) a play house (with a front porch and operable door and window and gated fence), all of which brought hours and years of fun to preschool students who were blessed to start their educations under her wings.

Even on the weekends, Mary never took a day off.  The ultimate entrepreneur, she exhibited stamina and stick-to-itivness as examples for her sons encouraging them to start, develop and maintain jet-ski, lawn-service, and yard announcement businesses throughout the years.  She spent many hours behind a book and behind a lawn-mower laboring alongside her sons and Ronnie.

An excellent teacher and entrepreneur, she was the focus of a cover article featured in Northwest Arkansas Business Times (Vol 2, No. 38) on Monday January 16, 1995 entitled, “Small clients, Big business.” In 1995 she was selected as a member of the Child Care Rules Revision Committee tasked with updating applicable state rules and regulations. In 1996 she was one of 7 delegates tapped to represent the Northwest Arkansas Family Child Care Association at the 47th annual Southern Early Childhood Association Conference in Little Rock.  She was selected to attend 19th Annual “Save the Children” Family Child Care Technical Assistance Conference in Atlanta. In 1997 she was selected as the Arkansas Early Childhood Professional of the Year.  In 1998 she was named Arkansas’ Outstanding Early Childhood Professional of the Year. Mary again made the front cover of the June 6, 1998 Northwest Arkansas Times when she received a state award from Glenda Bean, the director of the Division of Child Care and Early Education in Little Rock, who pointed out the selection was based on peer nomination and stated, “the award reflects your peer recognition; we don’t have too many like Mary that are as committed.”   Then she was tapped as the owner/operator of the year.  At that time Miss Mary’s Family Child Care Home in Fayetteville had been in operation for 22 years, so she was only half-way into the career that she built on hard work with only a GED, after she saw a need for quality child care in 1977.

Mary achieved Child Daycare Association credential and her facility achieved Arkansas Quality Child Care Approval status. Time and time again she received accolades for her work with the “H.U.G.S.” Newsletter, for teaching American Red Cross CPR and First Aid, as an officer of the Northwest Arkansas Family Child Care Association as a delegate to the Wheelock College Mentoring Training Summer Institute, and as a delegate to the National Conference for Family Child Care. With her involvement, Northwest Arkansas was selected by Wheelock College as one of four national pilot sites for the Family Child Care Accreditation Project.  She was recognized as an outstanding professional Awarded a Child Development Associate Credential in recognition of outstanding work with young children by the Council for Early Childhood Professional Recognition in Washington DC.  She was awarded outstanding industry newsletter from Tufts University.

Always forward-thinking she saw the opportunity the internet would later prove to be, so she quickly created, developed & maintained the association’s web site to provide more widespread dissemination of newsletter at no cost to the association.  At every opportunity she exemplified the importance of a teacher staying current with modern technology.  She had been a CPR instructor since 1997, assisted in the creation of a resource room at the U of A to serve local child care providers, which made it easier for child care providers to share ideas and information in one centralized location despite differing schedules and availability.

Mary believed the open exchange of ideas and discussion of issues was vital to improve child care of preschool aged children.  Thanks to her excellence and consistent hard work, she not once needed to advertise or otherwise seek recruitment of children.  She was well known and respected in the community and routinely had a wait list. In all, Mary maintained the highest qualities of child care, exhibited and expected excellence, toured kindergarten classrooms and incorporated their techniques, used Kindergarten Readiness Indicators Checklist to ensure her students learned, met and exceeded expectations.

In 2010 she became a “Better Beginnings Level 3 ABC Provider,” a distinction she continuously maintained until her retirement, which was no small task, due to constantly challenging and scrutinous requirements calling for the highest of values and excellence.  Even while undergoing cancer treatment, she was making improvements to her facility and continuing her education.

Despite all these professional accomplishments, family was most important to Mary.  This too she lived out by example.  When she had grandchildren, she focused one night per week to spend with each one one-on-one. At the end of the day, she viewed her work as never complete. Once the children were home, she was at the computer continuously engaging parents with a monthly newsletter, conducting parent-teacher conferences for individualized, confidential and quality exchange of ideas advancing each child’s success. She hosted open house events for parents and their families, instilling a sense of pride and confidence in her students.  She provided an easily accessible library of parenting materials, which she continuously updated and improved.

This true life-long learner, loved her husband, Ronnie, who predeceased her in 2016.  Their marriage partnership was out of the ordinary and a testimony to many. The two were truly best friends. Although her sickness over the past year caused her friends and family concern, she called it a blessing because, she said, “I have been blessed.  Paul and Tim have come back to care for me.  Even though they live far away, they call me everyday and I’m very thankful to them and proud of all they have become.”

Mary is lovingly remembered by her son, Tim Studebaker and his wife, Dee and their children, Jake and Nick of Indian Land, South Carolina and her son, Paul Studebaker and his fiancé, Maurine Farris and their children, Jake and Kaylea, of Roanoke, Texas, her aunt, Lucy Kathleen Pointer, her niece Tammy Chumley, and other nieces and nephews.

Mary is remembered by this verse from God’s Word. “Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain,” 1 Corinthians 15:58.  Mary is also remembered with this quote (author unknown), “A hundred years from now it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove, but the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child.

Memorial services honoring her life will be held at 10 AM Wednesday, July 17, 2019 at Beard’s Funeral Chapel, with Mary’s friend, Don Carter officiating.

The family will receive friends from 5-7 PM on Tuesday, July 16, 2019 at Beard’s Chapel.

Interment will be in Buckner Cemetery under the direction of Beard’s Chapel.