1947 - 2012Mary Wheat Hahn, CPA, died Aug. 20, 2012, at home in Shalimar, Fla., after a courageous 2-year battle with lung cancer. Mary was born on Jan. 5, 1947, in Louisville, Ky. She grew up in Bellaire, a suburb of Houston, Texas, and graduated from Bellaire High School and from Austin College in Sherman, Texas. She received her master's in biology from the University of Houston, and a master's in accounting from Northeastern University in Boston, Mass. She practiced as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in the Boston area, then joined the Peace Corps in 1993 to serve on the first small business development project in Hungary. She then began a career as an international consultant, training accountants in former Communist countries in western accounting principles and in assisting foreign companies in implementing International Financial Reporting Standards. She met her husband, Gary Scopes, also an international consultant, in Kiev, Ukraine, and they both went on to do consulting work in Bosnia, Mongolia, China, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Azerbaijan, while based at their home in Shalimar. Mary was a deacon and an elder in the First Presbyterian Church in Fort Walton Beach, Board Member of the League of Women Voters, and member of the American Institute of CPAs and Fort Walton Beach Chapter of the American Society of Women Accountants. She was a skilled weaver and member of the local Weavers Guild. Mary is survived by her husband, Gary Scopes, of Shalimar; her son, Joe Forbes, his wife, Rebecca Forbes, and their children Ada and Will Forbes, of Austin, Texas; stepchildren Darryl and Adrian Scopes and Sandy Blue and their children, Kayla Scopes and Nathan Blue; her sisters Ann Nicholson of Sherman, Texas, and Nell Hahn of Lafayette, La.; and many nieces, nephews, and close friends. Services will be held at the First Presbyterian Church, 134 Beal Pkwy, SW, Fort Walton Beach on Saturday, Sept. 15, 2012, at 2 pm. A reception will follow the service at the church. In lieu of flowers donations may be made to the Mary Wheat Hahn Scholarship at Austin College, 900 N. Grand, Suite 6G, Sherman, TX 75090. The family would like to express their appreciation to the staff of M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and the Emerald Coast Cancer Center of Fort Walton Beach.