Individual Details

Marriage

"If my husband's Army time in Germany hadn't been extended, we would have never met," says Elfriede ''Mecky'' Furr. "I spoke only a few words of English, but our instant attraction seemed to make that a small issue." ''As a proud American citizen,'' Elfriede ''Mecky'' Furr says, ''I still think often about those early days ... with the man that I followed here (from Germany) so many years ago. We have shared our love with three children, seven grandchildren and one great-grandchild.'' Mecky had accompanied a girlfriend on a 200-mile train trip to the U.S. military installation at Babenhausen in Hesse, Germany, southeast of Frankfurt. (The facility closed in 2007.) "My friend's fiancé introduced me to his friend Tim" -- Timothy Allison Furr -- "and we all watched a football game at a local field," she says. "I thought, 'What a sport -- just guys falling all over each other!'" "I just took one look at her," admits Tim, 70, "and knew that was the one I wanted to marry." It was late November 1961. "A cold day," Mecky, 68, remembers, "and I mentioned to my girlfriend that I was hungry. In no time, a warm jacket was put over my shoulders and a hamburger (another new experience) was put into my hands by Tim. When we returned to the car, Tim opened the door for me. "I was very impressed. When he said he came from the American South and Mississippi specifically, visions of novels that took place in the antebellum South came to mind. I had read 'Gone with the Wind' and many others in German. By that time I had also noticed how handsome he was. "He had a big, muscular, 6-foot-2 frame, a winning smile and beautiful eyes." It turned out that Tim was not alone with those features. His twin, Jim, was in the Air Force and also stationed in Germany. The pair had something of a notable childhood, Mecky learned, as they were featured in the Memphis Press-Scimitar in 1942 as 3-year-olds available for adoption through the now-infamous Tennessee Children's Home Society. A follow-up item reported the twins had found a home together. "And they will probably never know that Mary Pickford, former 'America's Sweetheart,' was among the many who offered them a permanent home," the article read. "The children had already been placed when Miss Pickford's application arrived, according to Miss Georgia Tann, executive secretary of the society." Only later did Mecky learn of that saga. In November 1961, she was focused on their second date. "We went to a movie starring Natalie Wood and I didn't understand the dialogue," she says. "When he gave me a long speech in the car afterward, I thought he was trying to explain the movie to me. After some time he motioned with a pen that he would write (me) a letter." When it arrived, Mecky labored to translate it, only to learn that he wrote that what he had to say was too important to put in a letter. "Till I met her, I wasn't interested in getting married, not at all," Tim insists. "She walked into my life and that was it." "On the third date," she says, "I finally grasped that he was proposing marriage. We were in love and thought of no consequences, even though there were many. His mother in Mississippi ... was very happy, but my parents were furious." After all, they'd had only three dates in four weeks, and Tim's German was, as he puts it, "inconsequential." "I couldn't think of the German word for marriage or engaged, so I finally just showed her 'putting on a ring' and she went along with it!" he says. Tim Furr and Mecky Preis hurdled mountains of red-tape before they married in her hometown of Marburg, Germany, on March 10, 1962, with his twin as best man and her sister as maid of honor. (Eventually those two, also, would marry and move to Memphis, but later go their separate ways.) "On April 28, 1962," says Mecky, "I left my family and everything I had ever known to spend my life with my version of Rhett Butler. "Upon arrival in New York, we traveled by train on wooden seats for three days and two nights to Memphis, with an eight-hour stop in Bristol, Tenn., for train repairs. Arriving in Memphis, my white outfit covered in train soot, I saw that there was civilization here after all. I met his mother and we continued our journey to Pontotoc, Miss., by car. She was a very gracious Southern lady, and we would stay with her until we found a place of our own" -- back in Memphis. "The biggest surprise for me," Tim says, "was her learning English as fast as she did. I was amazed." Today Tim is retired from Delta Air Lines, but not from golf. Mecky runs SouthernWings, the butterfly farm she has nurtured for 25 years. "We have shared our love with three children (Mark Furr of Memphis, Sonja Boike of Collierville and Anita Masters of Chattanooga), seven grandchildren and one great-grandchild," she says. "As a proud American citizen, I still think often about those early days and my many adventures with the man I followed here so many years ago."

Death

It is with deep and heavy sadness we announce the passing of Elfriede “Mecky” Elisabeth Furr, 81, of Germantown, Tennessee. Mecky passed away peacefully, surrounded by family, on Thursday, November 10, 2022. Mecky was born May 14, 1941, in Cappel (Marburg), Germany. The daughter of the late Johannes and Anna Katharina (born Vaupel) Preiss, she was raised in the five-generation family home built in the early 1800s where her sister’s family still lives. Mecky apprenticed in Fashion Retail prior to a chance meeting with the love of her life, the late Timothy “Tim” Allison Furr, while he was stationed in the military in Germany. After a short, whirlwind romance, they married and started an exciting 57-year adventure together. Following their marriage in 1962, Tim brought his new bride home to Pontotoc, Mississippi and ultimately settled in Germantown, TN where they raised three children. She was very proud to be an American Citizen. Mecky was a beloved family historian and storyteller. In her youth, she witnessed and was molded by the direct effects of WWII. She strongly bound her family together by passing on the gift of family stories, traditions and strong values which will continue to be passed on and shape generations to come. She loved traveling, having visited many countries and almost every state in the U.S. She touched many lives around the world and cherished her life-long friendships. She was firm in her faith and led a life of unselfishness, self-resilience, love and respect. Mecky was a beloved member of the Germania Club of Memphis for many years. A lifelong learner, she enjoyed many hobbies, including traveling extensively, reading, history, nature, the arts and birding with her husband near and far. A true trivia expert, there were few worldwide topics that she wasn’t knowledgeable about and loved to educate and discuss. Above all, she cherished spending time with family and sharing her love and appreciation of nature and history. One of her greatest accomplishments was that of being a homemaker and mother. She worked hard to make her house a home which was her joy and purpose. She loved cooking huge meals and baking German cakes and cookies to gather the family, the scenes of great laughter and storytelling. She was a creative, loving, supportive mother and the Oma (Grandma) who was sure to share her love of German chocolates and candy. She enjoyed long talks and valued the little things in life, like sending a card, making a phone call or collecting stamps and postcards her friends and family would send her from all around the world. Mecky, owner of Southern Wings Butterfly Farm helped supply butterfly houses in many states and countries, was an influential and well-respected Lepidopterologist and advocated for a butterfly exhibit to be housed in Memphis. In the early 1970s, Mecky took up a childhood hobby of collecting and raising butterflies and moths. She developed a more than 40-year career, becoming a renowned authority on North American species. She set many new state records, and placed Tennessee on the butterfly map of the world with her official documentation of species, habitats, and food sources. Known as “The Butterfly Lady,” she presented and displayed her tens of thousands of collected specimens in libraries, schools, nature centers and museums to educate people of all ages about butterflies, habitat destruction and their importance to the ecosystem. Besides smaller collections donated to various parks and museums, her lifetime personal collection now partially resides at the Florida Museum of Natural History (University of Florida), the Smithsonian and several other museums and wildlife refuge centers. Mecky was a member of the Southern Lepidopterists Society and the Lepidopterists Society of the United States for many years. She assisted and mentored countless university professors with their research receiving credit in many publications. Notable tributes to Mecky’s accomplishments were two butterflies being officially named in her honor, one being the Pieris marginalis meckyae, and the U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service acknowledging her significant contributions to the conservation and management of our natural resources. She often was a keynote speaker many times and loved to educate anyone that would listen on how to maintain a butterfly garden and advocate for habitat and species protection. She was proceeded in death by her loving husband, Tim Furr. She will be truly missed by two daughters, Anita Elaine Masters (Jim) of Soddy Daisy, TN, and Sonja Kathrien Boike of Collierville, TN; and one son, Mark Alexander Furr of Germantown, TN. Additionally, she was fondly known as Oma by her eight grandchildren, Michael, Jonathon, Kristin, Matthew, Ryan, Ethan, Brandon, and Aiden; and five great-grandchildren, Allie, Adelyn, Riley, Jackson, and Mackenzie. Her sister, Erika E. Kissling (Werner) of Cappel, Germany, nephews and nieces, extended family members, and friends will miss her as well and cherish her memory. Open visitation will be held at Collierville Funeral Home, 534 W. Poplar Ave., Collierville, TN 38017 on Saturday, November 19, 2022, from 12:00-2:00 pm, followed by a service to celebrate her life. Pastor Jim Shears of Lord of Life Lutheran Church will be officiating. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Southern Lepidopterists’ Society, 5421 NW 69th Lane, Gainesville, FL 32653, Attn: Jeff Slotten or the National Kidney Foundation at kidney.org/donation in memory of Elfriede (Mecky) E. Furr.
“All good men and women must take responsibility to create legacies that will take the next generation to a level we could only imagine.” - Jim Rohn