She was born Mary Ethel Moore to the late Lloyd Franklin (Bud) Moore and Audrey Wilma Jordon Moore, on July 4, 1924 in Sikeston Missouri at the home of her maternal grandparents, James and Ida Jordan.  She grew up on the family homestead of her Great-Great Grandparents, William F and Nancy Stoker Moore, in New Madrid County.

Mary graduated from Matthews High School in 1942 and then graduated from Southeast Missouri State (SEMO), at that time called Southeast Missouri State Teachers College with a Bachelor's of Science degree in Degree in Elementary Education.  Beginning in 1944, she taught three years at Matthews Elementary School in Matthews, Missouri before moving to Sikeston Missouri where she taught first and second grade in the Sikeston School system.  She retired in 1982 having taught 37 years.  She was a gifted teacher who loved "her kids" and was active in many teaching organizations.  After retiring she did extensive genealogical research on her family and her husband's family.  She also enjoyed playing golf and served for many years as a election judge in her precinct of Sikeston.

On May 16, 1947, she married Benjamin Gaither Daugherty, Jr., in Sikeston, Missouri, and together they celebrated 66 years of marriage.  He preceded her in death on February 15, 2014.

She was a 50 plus member of the First United Methodist Church in Sikeston, Missouri.  After moving to Collierville, Tennessee in 2014, she became a member of Grace Evangelical Church, Germantown, Tennessee.

Visitation is scheduled from 1:00 p.m. until time of services at 2:00 p.m., Tuesday, November 30, 2021 at McMikle Funeral Home in Sikeston, Missouri.

Interment will follow at Memorial Park Cemetery at Sikeston under the direction of McMikle Funeral Home of Sikeston.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made in memory of Mary E. Daugherty to St Jude's Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.

Online condolences may be shared at www.mcmiklefuneralhome.com