Mary Louvinia Land, of Cleveland, TN, died on Monday, August 6, 2012.
She is now with her beloved husband, Jack, whom she and her family cared for the last eight years of his life. A mighty woman of prayer as her mother before her, she gave a lifetime of devotion to Christ and 25 years with her family as an urban missionary and minister in Atlanta’s Mission Possible (discipleship and rehabilitation center) and Midtown Mission Church of God (whose members are “family”) a wounded healer herself, abused as a teen, she never forgot the hurting, hungry, disadvantaged and lost.
In the Holy Spirit she delighted in her God, her husband, children and grandchildren. A book is being written chronicling hundreds of amazing incidents of suffering, service and spiritual warfare. Seen around Cleveland with her daughter-in-law, Peggy (like Ruth and Naomi), she continued to minister right up to her glorious home going.
In addition to her husband, she was preceded in death by her parents, Clarence and Maggie Thornton Anderson; and siblings, Juanita, Jack, Holland, Atwood, Paul, Pernie, Lucille and Kathaleen.
She is survived by her children, Dr. Steve J. Land and wife Peggy of Cleveland and Rosemary Land Lester and husband, the Reverend Steven Paul Lester of Charlotte, NC; grandchildren, Alanna Henry and husband, Travis, Laura Land, Jonathan Land and wife, Caitlin, Anna Leah Lester and Russ Paul Lester; and several nieces and nephews.
Funeral services will be held at 3 p.m. Thursday, August 9, at Dixon Chapel of the North Cleveland Church of God with her pastor, the Reverend Mitch Maloney and her former pastor, Dr. Mark Williams officiating. Interment will follow in Sunset Memorial Gardens with Jonathan Land, the Reverend Steven Lester, E.D. Wilson, Jr., Travis Henry, Reggie Tapp and Will Sumpter serving as pallbearers. Honorary pallbearers will be Eugene Lockette, the Reverend Kenneth Dismukes, Evelyn Knight, Lorraine Alton, missionary and the Reverend Dr. Milton Parsons.
Her family will receive friends from 12-3 p.m. Thursday, August 9 at the church prior to the service.
The family has requested that in lieu of flowers, contributions be made to the Pentecostal Theological Seminary, Rev. Jack and Mary Land Scholarship Fund.
Grissom Funeral Home has charge of the arrangements.