Caroline Kathleen "Lois" Pickle Cockroft

Caroline Kathleen "Lois" Pickle Cockroft, 95, of Nile Community in Attala County, Mississippi. Visitation will be held from 12:00 p.m. until 2:00 p.m., Monday, February 3, 2025, at Jordan Funeral Home. Funeral services will follow the visitation at 2:00 p.m., Monday, February 3, 2025, at Jordan Funeral Home Chapel with burial at Nile Cemetery. 

Born: March 30, 1929, in Attala County, MS

Died: January 30, 2025, at the Attala County Nursing Center in Kosciusko, MS, at the age of 95 years and 10 months 

Survived by: One nephew, Edward Pickle of Spanish Fort, AL; five first cousins, Lloyd Gann, Jerry Sanders, Freida Sanders, Nancy Duran, and Susan Strohm, many second and third cousins and many longtime friends.

Preceded in Death by: Her husband, Ralph Cockroft, one son, Ralph Peyton Cockroft, two brothers, Leonard Pickle and Olyn Pickle, and her parents, Sidney and Scereptia Pickle.

Lois was a long-time resident of the Nile Community of south Attala County, MS. She was a long-time member of Nile Church of Christ, where she was baptized into Christ at the age of 17. She graduated from nearby Barnes High School in north Leake County.

Lois married Ralph Cockroft on July 15, 1947, at the age of 18. Her one son, known as Pat Cockroft, was born in 1949. Lois and Ralph operated a grade C dairy, milking cows mornings and late afternoons for approximately 30+ years. Then, ending their working years, they operated Cockroft Grocery in the Nile community. After husband Ralph and son Pat’s passing, Lois continued with love and care for flowers like her mother and glassware collection as a hobby. She also had a small garden in her backyard until the last year or two.

Lois had many friends and we hate to mention names; however, she had two special lifetime friends who visited much and spent much time and care for her throughout life and in her senior years. They are Mary Gladys Dorsey Rivers and Karleen or Rita Bailey Brown. Karleen, who lives locally, rented Lois and Ralph’s old house for storage for her business and spent many hours seeing after her elderly friend Lois. After being tied up with the dairy for many years and staying close to home, Mary Gladys traveled fairly often with Lois in Mississippi and several southern states. In her 80’s and early 90’s, she also enjoyed traveling with cousin Jerry

Sanders and wife Shirley to every corner of Mississippi except the Mississippi Gulf Coast plus a trip to Branson, MO. Other great friends of hers in the neighborhood were Janice Withers Miller, Mary Dorsey, Randy Henderson & later Cloressa Sanders.

It would be amiss if not to mention her helper Robert Carroll and wife Melissa, who spent hours caring for her yard, vehicles, and house maintenance, as well as staying with her quite a while after surgery 2-3 years ago. In her later years she was cared for by nearby brother-in-law Jimmy Dan Cockroft and wife Barbara. Besides seeing that she was provided with necessities, doing house maintenance, and running errands, they spent many hours with her at doctor’s offices and hospitals until her death. They are to be commended for much time checking and caring for Lois and assisting her in purchasing and placing flowers on her relatives graves in the Nile Cemetery for Lois. Lois was cared for with food, clothing, and visits by many friends, which are too numerous to mention. We are sorry if we omitted some but due to time, so we just mentioned ones around very regularly. The family wants to thank all her friends and what they did for Lois, especially during her later days.

 Serving as pallbearers are Bill Hettich, Larry Newsom, Tim Lawrence, Robert Carroll, Scott Cockroft, Jerry Sanders, and Wayne Shelton.