A Warren County woman described as “wonderful and caring” to children at a day care for 28 years was found dead in her yard Thursday, her body lodged under the lawn mower she had been riding.

“She was a most wonderful, caring person and loved these children,” Woodlawn Baptist Church Kindergarten and Day Care Center Director Anita Brewer said of Mary Myers, 78, who was found at her home at 7161 U.S. 80. “She was loving and kind, and we just miss her terribly. I don’t know what we are going to do without her. We think the world of her.”

Her body was taken to Mississippi Mortuary Services in Rankin County to determine how she died.

“An autopsy will determine whether she became ill and whether something happened prior to her falling off the riding mower,” Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace said. “A riding lawn mower that she routinely used to mow her own grass was idling without the blades engaged. The engine for the lawn mower was running, and Mrs. Myers was under it as if it had rolled on top of her.”

Pace said no foul play is suspected.

Myers was a day-care worker for Woodlawn before her retirement, Brewer said, but decided to return to work as a substitute.

“She worked the day before yesterday,” Brewer said this morning. “She was supposed to work yesterday but took off to do something at her home. She was just an energy-filled lady who loved her yard and these children.”

Myers’ niece, Pam Lewis, described her aunt as “a second mother.”

“She was my daddy’s sister,” she said. “She was like a second mother to me. Oh, she was such a wonderful lady.”

Fisher Funeral Home has charge of arrangements.