Geneva Hughes

Geneva P. Hughes

Jackson

Geneva Pickenpaugh Hughes died January 7, 2013. Visitation is Wednesday January 9, 2013 at Natchez Trace Funeral Home in Madison from 5pm until 7pm. A funeral service celebrating her life will be 11am Thursday at Natchez Trace Funeral Home with a Rosary Service to begin at 10am. Interment will be in Lakewood Memorial Park Cemetery in Jackson.

Geneva Peyton Pickenpaugh Hughes began her long, full life on August 6, 1912. She was born to Arthur and Anna Peyton and grew up on a farm in Borden, Indiana with her sister Georgie and brother Arthur. In 1931 she married Oliver Pickenpaugh and eventually gave birth to their two children, Jane and Robert.

In 1947 the family moved to Mississippi, which would be her home for the rest of her life. Geneva raised her two children then worked for the Jackson Public School Food Service as a cafeteria manager at George, Casey and Green Elementary Schools. She became a grandmother to two boys and three girls and was adored by each of them. Those children went on to give her six great grandchildren and two great-great grandchildren.

Years after the death of her dear husband Oliver in 1975, Geneva married Joe Hughes and spent the next seven years with him until his death in 1993. She moved to The Waterford in Madison, MS at the age of 90 but her final year was spent in the home of her daughter Jane and son-in-law Bill McPhail. She was a member of Holy Family Catholic Church.

Those who knew her will remember Geneva as an extraordinary individual. She lived through the Great Depression and witnessed the death of many friends and family members including her two husbands Oliver Pickenpaugh and Joe Hughes, her parents Arthur and Anna Peyton, her siblings Georgie Mattenly and Arthur Peyton, her great grandson Cole Freeman and most recently her grandson Chris McPhail. But even after experiencing all of the hardships and grief that life can bestow upon a person, Geneva faced each day with joyful smile, a wicked sense of humor and kisses and hugs for everyone she loved.

Geneva's surviving family is grateful to be left with cherished memories of her 100 years on Earth. Her children are Jane McPhail and her husband Bill of Mendenhall, MS and Robert Pickenpaugh and his wife Merry of Madison, MS. Her grandchildren are Jim (Kathleen) McPhail of Jackson, MS, Brandee (Chuck) Freeman of Meadville, MS, Peyton (Peter) Kinmond of San Francisco, CA, and MerryCline Pickenpaugh of Madison, MS. Her great grandchildren are Zack McPhail, Emily McPhail, Blaine Freeman, Chase Freeman and Alice McPhail and her great, great grandchildren are Greyer McPhail and Sawyer McPhail.