Margaret Flory

Margaret Flory, 95, and long-time resident of College Walk Retirement Center in Brevard, died Thursday, October 1, in Hendersonville.
Born in Wauseon, Ohio, in 1914, she attended Ohio University where she earned a BA and MA in 1936 and 1938 respectively. There she began her student ministry as the director of the Westminster Foundation. After further studies at Union Theological Seminary in New York City, she was commissioned in 1944 by the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions to China where she taught at the Tokyo Christian Women's University.
In 1951, she was appointed the director of the Presbyterian Office of Student World Relations where she began shaping the church's understanding of its role in a global community of celebration and suffering.
During her 36 years with agencies of the Presbyterian Church USA, she developed and implemented numerous programs such as the Junior Year Abroad, Frontier Interns in Mission, Bi-National Servants, and the Overseas Scholarship Program.
Margaret received numerous awards and citations. She participated regularly in the General Assemblies of the World Student Christian Federation. She later became the Program Coordinator for the Gilmor-Sloane House at the Stony Point Center in Stony Point, NY, where a portion of her ashes will be interred.
Upon her retirement, Margaret moved to the College Walk Retirement Center, in Brevard. Here she shared her life-long love of learning by bringing new programs to College Walk residents, and in her spare time authored 3 books documenting her extraordinary journey. Endowed with "grace, grit, gumption, and good-humored love," she had a perennial smile. She traveled the globe, touching and shaping the lives of all whom she encountered. Her mission was to push out the walls of the church so that people of every race and nationality could sit side-by-side and believe in Christ as our eternal hope. She built bridges where few others could have done so.
Margaret is survived by her sister, Phyllis Crider, and brother, Dr. Frederick Flory, both of Columbus, OH, and by her brother, Roger Flory, of Kinston, NC, twelve nieces and nephews, and a world-wide circle of friends.
Memorial services will be held Thursday, October 8, at 2 PM, at the Brevard-Davidson River Presbyterian Church, 249 E Main St, in Brevard, NC.
Memorial contributions can be made to the Margaret Flory Fund of the WSCF (World Student Christian Federation) and sent to: Trustee of the WSCF USA, Inc, c/o Rev Jorge Domingues, 475 Riverside Dr Room 1340, New York, NY 10115.
To sign Mrs. Flory's guestbook online, please go to "Obituaries" at www.moore-fh.com .
Moore Funeral Home is in charge of the arrangements.