Mary Helen Strong was born in Cooter, Missouri on October 19,1937, and was the only child born to James Strong and Leona Hollingsworth Strong.

She attended Cooter School, graduating with the class of 1955 and has kept in touch with her classmates. She and Betty Dair Isbell became classmates and best friends in the first grade. Their friendship lasted over seventy years.

At the age of 12, Mary made a profession of faith, trusting Jesus as her savior. She never forgot the morning she was saved at Holly Grove.

On August 11, 1958, at the age of 21, she married Charles Barger. They were married at Eastwood Methodist Church in Caruthersville, Missouri, by Reverend Floyd Brewer. The following month they moved to Topeka, Kansas, where Charles was stationed in the Air Force, and Mary worked as a secretary for Victory Life Insurance. Eddy was born during those two years, and they returned to Cooter to make their home in 1960.

She always did secretarial work and enjoyed every job she had. Her first job was with the Pemiscot County Welfare Office in 1956. Others were Victory Life Insurance in Topeka, Kansas, The National Bank of Caruthersville, and Family Services, retiring as a state employee in 1999.

Mary was preceded in death by her dad in 1977 and her mom in 1981 and her husband in 2012. She is survived by her son, Eddy, by one granddaughter, Amy, one grandson, Pike, one great-grandson, Clayton, and one great granddaughter, Charleigh Grace, one sister-in-law, Linda Marshall, and her cousins, whom she always loved and thought of as being her sisters and brothers.

She is survived by a loving church family at Holly Grove.

Funeral services were held on Thursday December 5, 2024, at 1:00 pm at the Holly Grove Baptist Church in Cooter, Missouri with Pastor Dave Lewelling and Pastor Tim Abernathy officiating. The visitation was from 12-1 on the same day at the Holly Grove Baptist Church. Pall Bearers were Donald Gray Jr, Steve Childers, Tim Smith, Jackie Reams, David Powers, Donald Gray Sr., Steve Reid, Mike Lynn, Randy Wingfield, & Jackson Neil. Interment was at the Mt. Zion Cemetery in Steele. The family request any donations to made to the Holly Grove Baptist PO Box 56 Cooter, MO 63839 or the Mt. Zion Cemetery PO Box 35 Steele, MO 63877.

Arrangements under the direction of John W. German Funeral Hom of Steele, MO.