Moulton
Holly Ryan Ferguson, educator, died at age 34. Holly Ryan Ferguson, who was earning her doctorate in elementary education at The University of Alabama and serving as a graduate assistant in that department, died at home on June 22nd of brain cancer. She received the Most Outstanding Graduate Teaching Award in Elementary Education from the University on Honors Day this spring. When she was 21, she graduated from Austin College, Sherman, Texas, with a bachelor's degree in Spanish, where she immediately began work on a Master's in teaching and graduated in 1997. She first taught at Holy Spirit Catholic in Tuscaloosa, and then in Texas for six years, in the cities of Houston and Killeen. She last taught at The University of Alabama as a graduate teaching assistant. She was a natural teacher and was dedicated to the citizens of the state, especially the children and future educators. Holly leaves behind her husband of 11 years, Ernie, and their daughter, Anna Ryan; her parents, Debra Baird and Alton L. Wilson of Haleyville and Gary L. Burgess of Gulf Shores; two brothers, M. Seth Burgess (Julie) of Prescott, Ariz., and Branton Burgess Baird (Naomi Shadix) of Tuscaloosa. She also leaves Ernie's parents, Glynn and Judy Ferguson of Hempstead, Texas; her sister-in law, Carol Fernandez (Ricky) of Houston, Texas; and brother-in-law, Matthew Ferguson (Stacey), also of Houston; as well as loving aunts, uncles, cousins, nephews, nieces, and many friends. There will be a funeral mass at Annunciation of the Lord Catholic Church in Decatur on July 1 at 10 a.m., celebrated by Father Raymond A. Dunmyer and Father Ray Remke, with the procession to the cemetery to immediately follow. Holly will be interred at the Old Bethel Cemetery, Arley, in the Baird family plot. In remembrance of Holly and her love for teaching, a scholarship fund for underprivileged women who wish to become teachers has been established at Athens State University. A college fund for her daughter will also be set up; details will be available at a later time. For those wishing to do so, the family requests that in lieu of flowers, contributions be made to the scholarship fund, the college fund, or to Hospice of the Valley, Decatur and Moulton.