Mary Louise “Fant” Carlson died Sunday, Feb. 28, 2010, at Central Mississippi Medical Center. Born in McComb in 1923, she had been a resident of Vicksburg since 1944.

Mrs. Carlson was the daughter of the late Hollis Clyde Fant and Annie Myrtle Collum Fant. She was a graduate of McComb High School in the Class of 1941 and attended Mississippi State College for Women and Louisiana State University. She was married to Walter Edward “Swede” Carlson for 49 years prior to his death in 2002.

Mrs. Carlson is lovingly remembered in McComb as “Weezie” and in Vicksburg as “Fant.” She was employed for a number of years by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. She was a devoted wife, a loving grandmother and great-grandmother.

“Fant” was an accomplished musician, playing several instruments including the piano, organ and accordion. Many will remember her for the arts and crafts that she shared with her friends and those she could cheer along the way. Mrs. Carlson was a member of First Presbyterian Church.

She is survived by a daughter, Carolyn Carlson Buford and her husband, Curtis, of Vicksburg; son, Clyde Edward Carlson and his wife, Elizabeth Doxsee, of New Orleans; five grandchildren, Emma Jane Carlson, Harry Eliot Carlson, George Edward Carlson, Gerald Alan Buford and his wife, Sarah Elizabeth Buford, and Melissa Buford Dixon and her husband,  Paul Grady Dixon; and one great-granddaughter, Delia Claire Dixon.

In addition to her parents and husband, she was preceded in death by two brothers, Hollis Collum “H.C.” Fant and Samuel Ezra “Bubba” Fant.

Services will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at Riles Funeral Home Chapel with Dr. John G. McCall officiating. Visitation will be from 9 a.m. until the hour of the service. Burial will be at Cedar Hill Cemetery.

Pallbearers will be Bobby Amborn, Grady Dixon, Ben Ardhal, Carl Warnock, Mac Fulgham and Gerald Buford.

Memorials may be made to charities of choice.