Waverley Ogilvie Murrey Duning died Saturday evening, July 25, 2020, surrounded by family. She was 98 years old.

The daughter of William Preston and Natilee Ogilvie Murrey, she was born on March 10, 1922, at Valley Farm in southern Marshall County. Early years were spent in the company of her parents, two younger brothers, her beloved Auntie (Sarah Ogilvie Rogers), and Granny, her mother’s mother (Zana McClelland Ogilvie). There was also her father’s large family – 11 Murrey aunts and uncles and their families – to fill her days with cousins and homemade ice cream and trips to town.

She learned to ride as a child, pounding up the hillsides on her Shetland pony and startling the grazing goats – Marshall County’s famous “fainting” goats – to see them stiffen with surprise and roll down the incline before leaping up to graze again. Later, she rode Tennessee Walkers, showing them for Sullins College in Bristol, VA, the women’s junior college she attended before finishing her bachelor’s degree in 1943 at the University of Tennessee.

Her first job -- filing papers at National Life & Accident Insurance Company in Nashville – was “incredibly dull.” But she found her calling at Travelers Aid, an agency assisting soldiers, displaced persons and wartime wanderers at Union Station and the Greyhound Bus depot. The new job offered both a pay raise and tuition toward her master’s degree in social work. The years 1944 to 1946 she later recalled as among the happiest of her young life, writing: “It was nice to be paid for doing what I liked best: talking to people, finding out about their lives and trying to help with their problems.”

As the war ended and her roommates planned their weddings, she accepted a scholarship to finish her Master of Social Work at Tulane in New Orleans. It was Mardi Gras when she met Lt. j.g. Ted Duning on a blind date. They were married three months later and shared the next 64 years, until his death in August 2009.

It was a good life, blessed with four children, close extended families and countless friends. After marriage, Waverley deployed her social-work skills within the context of kinship and friendship, consistently eager to help those around her. She never met a stranger. She was intensely interested in every person who crossed her path, wherever in the world she might be, and for that reason she is remembered by friends of all ages, places and experiences with a smile. Hers is a legacy of listening, learning and caring.

Waverley was an excellent writer who delighted in composing witty verses in honor of birthdays and special occasions. She was also a thoughtful chronicler of her own experiences, as evidenced by the autobiography she wrote in later years, sharing the lessons she had learned along the way. Here is one:

“So often our fears can keep us from learning about things that really aren’t so frightening once we know and understand them. I think living is a lot like this. The more we study and contemplate the mysteries of life using our intelligence and our faith, the better we are able to cope with the ups and downs that are a part of our lives. If you can face your fears and analyze them, then you can better overcome them. I won’t claim that I’m always successful at doing that, but I try.”

Waverley is survived by her four children – Natilee (Frank Sutherland), Beth (Bob Hock), Paul (Carol Clurman Duning) and Tim (Lorraine Fleetham Duning) – and seven grandchildren. Her beloved brothers – W.P. Murrey, Jr. and N.O. Murrey, both of Pulaski – also survive, as do a host of nieces and nephews.

Due to Covid-19, no public service is planned at this time. The family hopes to announce a memorial gathering in the fall, if circumstances allow. Waverley chose to donate her body to Vanderbilt University Medical School for research.

Gifts in her memory may be made to the Mary Farley Care Center, Lewisburg First United Methodist Church, 325 W. Church St., Lewisburg, TN 37091; The Nature Conservancy – Tennessee (nature.org); or to the charity of one’s choice. Condolences may be sent to The Duning Family, 2867 Carter’s Creek Station Rd., Columbia, TN 38401.