Mary Blake

COVINGTON - At Vitas Inpatient Hospice Unit at Drake Center in Cincinnati, Mary Beatrice Cross Blake had to be moved to a larger room with a couch and about 15 chairs to better accommodate the family and friends who came to visit.
"Write it in my book," she insisted. She didn't want to forget their names and asked them to write them down, said her son, David Kenneth Blake Sr. of Cincinnati.
Mrs. Blake died May 15 at the age of 89.
She was born in Sackler, Ala., to Laura Simpson Cross and the Rev. William E. Cross Sr., one of 10 children.
"When she was 17 years old she won an oratorical contest," wrote her daughter, Cheryl Lynn Hoskins of Newport, for her eulogy. "She titled it, 'The Tremendous Power of Little Things.' She talked about safety pins, erasers and rubber bands."
Mary Blake knew the importance of these modest items as much as she knew the worth of a simple smile, hug and helping hands.
"To know here was to love her," said Mary Middleton, a friend from Fort Mitchell. "The love she showed to everybody was inspirational. She made everyone feel special and that God loved them."
"She knew and felt (she used to tell us often) God's deep love for her personally," Hoskins wrote. "Even when you are old, I will be the same. Even when your hair has turned gray, I will take care of you. I made you and I will take care of you."
"She had a tender way. She assured all of us that we were somebody," her son David Blake said. "We meant something in life and that we had something to offer."
Mrs. Blake was an artist, community leader and worked in the church for more than 70 years. Working side by side with her husband, the late Rev. Charles E. Blake, they raised their four children and ministered in churches in Tennessee, Connecticut, Ohio and Kentucky. She studied art at the Artist Collective of Hartford, Conn., and art and photography through the Baker Hunt Foundation in Covington. She was past president of Kentucky Annual Conference Branch Missionary Society of the African Methodist Episcopal Church where she conducted national retreats, workshops, Bible study groups in spiritual growth and development for the military, churches and denominational agencies.
She was a manager and educational consultant serving schools and public libraries for World Book and Child Craft learning programs, chairperson of Ecumenical Celebrations for the State of Kentucky Church Women United, vice president and board member of Community Action Agency of Northern Kentucky and member of Northern Kentucky Interfaith Council.
"She was lovingly called Mother Blake by many of her 'other children'. ...She touched all of our lives in a special way," Hoskins wrote.
"She demonstrated how to live life and how you die. She was at peace," Blake said.
In addition to her son and daughter, other survivors include another son, Ivan Maurice Blake of Dayton, Ohio; daughter, Charlotte Ann Blake Sydnor of Nashville, Tenn.; 13 grandchildren, 39 great-grandchildren and three great-great grandchildren.
Visitation was held with service following at Corinthian Baptist Church, 772 Whittier St., Cincinnati. Herb Walker Funeral Home, Mount Healthy handled arrangements.