LAURINBURG — Mary Belle Asher Hafer passed away on Dec. 10, 2014 at Scotia Village in Laurinburg, at the age of 105.

She was born on Sept. 1, 1909 in Marion, Kentucky, to Jefferson Davis Asher and Annie Randolph Asher. Mary graduated high school in Marion, Kentucky, and continued her education at Western Kentucky Teaching College. From there she took a business course at Crop Secretarial School in Durham. She worked as a secretary to the Dean of Education at State College in Raleigh. While there she met a forestry student from Pennsylvania, Alvin B. Hafer. They married soon after he graduated and began a life filled with adventure and service. They made many life long friends along the way.

Mary and "Hafer" lived in several towns in Tennessee and Alabama while Hafer worked for Tennessee Valley Authority. After living in Indianapolis, Indiana, and working with American Friends Service Committee, they moved to Laurinburg,where Hafer worked as a forester.

They were both very active, teaching Sunday school classes at Middleton Heights and at Laurinburg Presbyterian Church.

Throughout their lives in Laurinburg, Mary and Hafer opened their home to a number of foster children.

One of their grea test loves was the building of Camp Monroe from the ground up. A summer camp catering to boys and girls, it still thrives today. Many children have enjoyed summer weeks filled with fun and camaraderie at Camp Monroe.

After Hafer's death in 1978, Mary lived between the home they had built and the cabin they had built until she moved to Scotia Village in 1991.

She was a superb seamstress, making most of her own clothes, and she loved sewing for other people. Wedding dresses were a particular area of expertise. She also loved making hats and taught hat-making classes to women when hats were still in fashion. Until just a few years ago, she crocheted caps for women undergoing chemotherapy and radiation treatment for cancer.

Mary is survived by her son Gunter Balanski Hafer of Jupiter, Florida; daughter Shirley M. Miles of Washington, DC; grandsons Timothy B. Hafer of Scottsdale, Arizona, and Christopher S. Hafer of West Palm Beach, Florida; granddaughter Monique A. Miles of Washington, DC, and great-granddaughter Amber R. Overman of Oak Island, North Carolina.

Mary was preceded in death by her husband, Alvin B. Hafer, her father and mother, sisters Ruby Asher Taylor, Naoma Asher and her brother J.D. Asher Jr.

Mary was loved by many, many people and gave of herself helping anyone she could. She was a delight and joy to her family and friends and will be greatly missed.

Services will be held 3 p.m. Saturday at Scotia Village. Memorials may be sent to The Hafer Scholarship, Camp Monroe, 24501 Camp Rd., Laurel Hill, NC 28351.

The family will be receiving friends following the memorial service.

McDougald Funeral Home and Crematorium is serving the family.