Mahala Pennington

MAHALA PENNINGTON - Mahala Crowder Pennington, age 83, of Tuscaloosa, AL, died peacefully at home on Saturday, October 18, 2025.  Arrangements have been entrusted to Memorial Funeral Home & Crematory in Columbus, MS.  A graveside service will be Saturday, October 25, 2025, at 11:00 AM at Friendship Cemetery with George McLaurin officiating.  In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to St. Jude’s Children's Research Hospital in Mahala's name, P.O. Box 1000 Dept. 495, Memphis, TN, 38101-9801.

     She was born on October 7, 1942, in Columbus, MS, to Georgia Crowder and James "Pat" Crowder who have predeceased her.  She married her high school sweetheart, Artie Pennington, in 1961.  Together they moved to Birmingham, AL, in 1964, relocated to Canton, MI, in 1982, and retired to Tuscaloosa, AL, in 2002.

     Mahala was a graduate of S. D. Lee High School and attended Mississippi State College for Women as a student of piano performance.  She loved music.  She began piano lessons at an early age and was a first chair French horn member in the high school band.  She played the piano and organ at several different churches and also taught piano to a great number of students during her lifetime.

     She is with her savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, and she loved to study the Bible.  She always encouraged her children and grandchildren to read and study the Bible.  She loved her grandchildren and spent much of her time training them up in the way they should go.

     Mahala is survived by her husband, Artie Pennington, her two children, Amy McCullough and Artie Pennington, II, three grandchildren, Ben McCullough (Lauren), Georgiann McCullough, Kendra Pennington, and two brothers, George "Ricky" Crowder (Sharon), and David "Mike" Crowder (Jeanie).