Mary Queen (Rutherford) Alridge

1928 - 2024

On Thursday morning, November 28, 2024, Thanksgiving Day, Mary Queen Rutherford Al­ridge, 96, left us to be with the Lord and reunite with her ancestors. Queen was born on July 18, 1928 to Rachael Isabelle Cuthbertson and Bringer Thomas Greenlee Rutherford, Sr., in Mc­Dowell County, North Carolina. Queen passed away peacefully at her home. Up until the end she was having frequent long conversations in the room with whom we firmly believe were her ancestors. She significantly perked up with a visit from her sister Cynthia, then declined rapidly as soon as she left. She graduated from Olive Hill High School, in Morganton, N.C.

Queen lived in Nebo, North Carolina, for more than 20 years; then Florida, New York, and on to Washington D.C. where she settled down and married Milton Alridge in June 1951, the beau whom she met in Florida. She was employed for many years at The United States Capitol where she retired. She saw many senators and congressmen including fellow Morgantonian Senator Sam Ervin. You were lucky if you were privileged to hear the tales she had to tell, including when she and two housekeepers hid in the closet so they could see Martin Luther King come down the hall. Her renter was the personal housekeeper to the President and Lady Bird Johnson and her husband was their limo driver. Queen loved the access to the gossip and being the recipient of an occasional limo ride to work. Filling in for someone else for the first time, she served President Lyndon B. Johnson his coffee and was a little taken aback that she had to stand there and wait until he finished drinking it! She lived in D.C. until she returned home to Nebo, aka Bridgewater. Queen loved her family and flowers - her front yard in D.C. was more flowers than grass. She also loved soap operas, talking on the phone and was an avid elephant collector. She was an interesting character with a good heart.

Queen had two brothers and nine sisters and was raised with many cousins, nieces/neph­ews, as Belle & Bringer never turned away a relative in need. She was preceded in death by her spouse Milton Alridge; parents; sisters; Nellie Meadows (Robert), Hattie Agnes Hamilton (Ralph), Maggie Lee Caldwell (Frank), Mae Etta Carson (Nathaniel), Lucille (Hicks) Dula (William); brothers; Gartha Rutherford Sr. (Martha), Bringer T. Rutherford Jr. She is sur­vived by her sister Cynthia Della Poole (Walter), a special niece Michelle Carson and multiple nieces, nephews and a few long-time friends. Additional predeceased family that Queen grew up with on the Rutherford estate: Celia Belle (Rutherford) McElrath, Gartha "Bobby" Ruther­ford, Jr., Velma Blanche (Hamilton) Morris, June Hamilton, LeRoy Hamilton, Liza Ballew Rutherford, James Garland Ballew Rutherford, Grafton Ballew, Luther "Tick" Ballew, Mary Lee Avery and Viera Wallace.

When asked if she knew what was happening to her Queen said "Yes" and said "I am alright, I'm okay, I have been good to people, I have helped people, I'm ready to go." There were many deeds and kind things unknown to most of us but significant to the beneficiaries of her kind­ness. Queens' transition was easy. She took one last breathe and simply went to sleep.

A homegoing celebration honoring the life of Ms. Mary Queen Alridge will be held Thursday December 5, 2024 at 1:00 p.m. in the Corpening Memorial Chapel of McCain Funeral Home & Cremations, LLC; interment will follow at the Rutherford Family Cemetery in Nebo.  The family will receive friends one hour prior to the service.

The service will be livestreamed on the McCain Funeral Home & Cremations Facebook page and YouTube Channel; the links are found below:

McCain Funeral Home & Cremations Facebook Page:

https://www.facebook.com/mccainfuneralhome/

McCain Funeral Home & Cremations YouTube Channel:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCu4qb7IT7sO-Kc0BRs05J-A