Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Mary Nell Hooten, 87, of Elizabethton, went home to be with the Lord on Saturday, October 23, 2021, from Sycamore Springs Senior Living Community.
Mary was born in Carter County to the late W. Scott and Alice Simmons Laws. In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband, Elmer Eugene Hooten; her daughter, Christa Rebecca Hooten Deason; brothers, Lee Laws, Scotty Laws and Bruce Laws, and sisters, Sallie Laws Walunas and Jane Laws Campbell.
Mary was born in Butler, Tenn., in 1934, raised in the Little Milligan Community, and graduated from Hampton High School in 1952. After working as a nurse maid for a year in Elizabethton, she and best friend, Shirley Jo White Hicks, caught a ride to Detroit, Mich., to find greater opportunities…and husbands. Soon she fell in love with Elmer Hooten, a native of Gainesboro, Tenn., and U.S. Army veteran, who was working for Chrysler Corporation. Mary and Elmer married in 1954 and began their lives together in Detroit. In 1967 the family moved from Detroit to Sterling Township, which later became Sterling Heights. They raised two children, Christa and Arklie, and granddaughter, Angela. Mary was a full-time homemaker while her children were young, then worked for Burkhard Manufacturing for 18 years, retiring in 1989. She enjoyed traveling, holidays, and shopping with her sister Sallie, who lived a few blocks away, many summer camping adventures in Canada around the Great Lakes, and visiting with friends and coworkers. After her husband’s death she moved to Elizabethton in 1994 to be near her family.
Those left to cherish Mary’s many wonderful memories include her son, Arklie and wife Katherine Thomas Hooten; four grandchildren, Angela Kayi and husband John Kayi of Clarkston, Mich., Erin Brook Hooten and husband Dun Cochran of Jackson, Wyo., Levi Hooten and girlfriend Jess King of Dallas, Texas, and Gray Hooten and wife Megan Hooten of Elizabethton, Tenn.; three great-grandchildren, Oliver Kayi, Amelia Kayi and Eleanor Hooten; two sisters, Kay Laws Moody and husband Richard Moody of Butler, Tenn., and Nancy Laws White of the Fish Springs Community of Hampton, Tenn.
Mary was interred at Lakeview Cemetery near Watauga Lake in the Little Milligan Community. A family gathering to celebrate Mary will be held in the future. The family would like to thank the staff at Sycamore Springs Senior Living Community for the excellent, compassionate and loving care they gave to Mary. Those who prefer to provide a memorial may make donations to The Michael J. Fox Foundation, which is working to find a cure for Parkinson’s Disease, at P.O. Box 5014, Hagerstown, MD 21741-5014.
Memorial Funeral Chapel is serving the Hooten family.