Portrait of Mary Slack. IMB Photo
Mary Slack, an International Mission Board missionary emeritus who shared the gospel in the Philippines, died Nov. 11, 2025. She was 85.
Mary was born Oct. 10, 1940, in Poplarville, Mississippi, to the late George Keith Prestridge Sr. and Hilda Prestridge. She graduated from Bolton High School in Alexandria, Louisiana; received the Bachelor of Science from Northwestern State College, Natchitoches, Louisiana; and attended Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas.
She married James Slack on June 2, 1961. After college, Mary worked in the emergency department of the Confederate Memorial Medical Center in Shreveport, Louisiana. Jim was called as pastor to a church in Belcher Louisiana, and he and Mary both commuted to classes at Southwestern seminary. After their first son was born, she remained home and was very active in church life, teaching Sunday school and leading various discipleship classes. She worked briefly in the obstetrics department at the Highland Hospital in Shreveport.
While seeking missionary appointment Mary wrote, “It was not until my first year in college that I fully realized just what God had called me to do. As I went to a missions conference at the New Orleans Seminary, I saw missions in a real sense. I had previously given my life to a ‘far away’ mission field. … It was here that I feel I truly gave my life to God’s call to missions. … My call to the foreign mission field was a step-by-step process brought about through … various people, books, conferences, and meetings, Bible study and prayer.”
In 1964, the International Mission Board appointed Jim and Mary missionaries to the Philippines. Mary served as a mentor and counseled young mothers and women in need, taught and spoke to various women’s groups on a wide range of medical, social and spiritual issues, and homeschooled their four children.
Mary was preceded in death by her husband of 57 years, James B. Slack Sr.
She is survived by her children, James B. Slack Jr. (Molly), Joel S. Slack (Tonya), Jonathan S. Slack (Erica), and Sherrie Slack Holland (Mike); 13 grandchildren and six great grandchildren.
A celebration of life service was held Dec. 20 at the Simms Center at Lakewood Retirement Community in Richmond, Virginia, with burial in Minden, Louisiana.
Donations in her memory may be made to the Lottie Moon Offering, IMB, 3806 Monument Avenue, Richmond, VA 23230, or online at Generosity Resource Center – IMB Generosity.
Read an obituary here.