Jacqueline Simpson

Jacqueline van Raden Johnson Simpson died on Saturday, July 18, 2009.
Funeral services will be at 11 am Wednesday, July 22, 2009, at the Shaw Methodist Church. Burial will follow in Shaw Cemetery under the direction of Ray Funeral Home. Visitation will be from 10-11 am Wednesday in the Shaw Methodist Church Sanctuary.
She was born on August 10, 1910, in Clinton, Mississippi. She was reared in Hattiesburg, graduating from Mississippi Woman's College where her father served as president. During the first years of the Depression, she taught public school at Enterprise (near Meridian) and filled the shortened school terms with graduate school at the University of North Carolina. In 1933, she completed her Master's degree and accepted a teaching position with Superintendent Frank Hough in the Shaw Public Schools.
In 1937, she married Guy Simpson of Shaw and they moved into the home she would live in and love for the next 66 years. Mrs. Simpson was an active member of the community and of Shaw Methodist Church, where she taught Sunday School and numerous Bible studies. She was a good friend to people of different ages and races. Her home was a haven for family and friends, a gathering place for young and old. Good conversation, laughter, consolation—all were available around her big round kitchen table.
Miss Jackie was an ardent Ole Miss and North Carolina sports fan. She subscribed to Sports Illustrated well into her eighties, and she took special pleasure in following the sports careers of Boo Ferriss, Archie Manning, Todd Sandroni, and Peyton and Eli Manning.
Mrs. Simpson was a loving mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. However, if she had been asked to choose one role for her life, it would have been as a devoted wife.
She is preceded in death by her husband, Guy Simpson; her daughter, Jane Bingham Simpson; her parents, Dr. J. L. Johnson and Sue Bell Johnson; her brother, Dr. Cecil Johnson of Chapel Hill, NC; her sisters, Mrs. Rachel Johnson Batson of Washington, D.C., and Mrs. Julia Johnson Hewitt of Jackson and Fort Meyers, FL.
Survivors include her daughters, Mary Sue Simpson Morgan (Pat) of Zionville, NC, Julia Toy Simpson Bell (Fred Allen) of Kosciusko, and Laura Rice Simpson Noble (Richard) of Indianola. She is also survived by grandchildren, Patrick Morgan Jr., (Elizabeth) of Raleigh, NC, Jane Morgan Owen (Jim) of Jacksonville, FL; Margaret Toy Bell of Brandon, and Fred Allen Bell III of Oxford and great grandchildren, Jacqueline and Nicholas Morgan and Caroline and Jack Owen. She welcomed and loved her step-grandchildren and their families: Stephanie and Ed Smith and son, Foster; Liz and Pete Vickers and daughter, Kate, all of Columbia, SC; Doug and Angie Noble and children, Bryn, Liv, and Douglas of Jackson; and Stuart and Scott Noble of Tuscon, AZ. She is survived by her sister, Sue Johnson Dale of St. Augustine, FL, and her brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Jimmy and Bette Simpson of Shaw. She leaves her cousins, Mary Lucille and Newton James of McComb, and a number of nieces and nephews.
Her special friends and caregivers were Earnestine Clark, Marva Funchess, Charlie Mae, and D. L. Fair, all of Shaw. Maria Jones, Debra Wingard, and the staff of the Atwood Home in Kosciusko were essential to her health and happiness in her final years. Her dogs, Blackie and Butterbean, were her faithful companions in Shaw.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Shaw United Methodist Church, P.O. Box 920, Shaw, MS 38773 or Guy Simpson Volunteer Fire Department, 211 Gilbert, Shaw, MS 38773.
Online guestbook may be viewed and signed at www.rayfuneralhome.net.