Margaret Wilbourn Vise

Mrs. Margaret Wilbourn Vise, 85, died peacefully after a brief illness from cancer on June 13, 2025. She was born January 20, 1940, in Memphis, TN. A native of Meridian, Mississippi, Mrs. Vise was the daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. James Cox Wilbourn. She graduated with highest honors from Meridian High School, served as a Girl Scout, staff member of the school newspaper, a delegate to Girl's State, a member of the Dusty Social Service Club, and a Demolay Club Little Sister. Margaret was presented as a debutante in Jackson, MS in 1959. She graduated from Randolph-Macon Woman's College in 1961 where she majored in Religion, minored in English, was a member of Chi Omega sorority, a C Club Secret Society member, and was elected to May Court and honored as May Queen by her classmates.
On June 2, 1962, she married her childhood sweetheart and the love of her life, Dr. Guy Thompson Vise, Jr., of Meridian. Guy and Margaret were married for 47 years until his death in 2009. They had two sons, Guy Thompson Vise, III, and James Wilbourn (Will) Vise. They lived in New Orleans, LA while Dr. Vise completed medical school and residency at Tulane University, and moved to Los Angeles, CA, and Atlanta, GA for Dr. Vise to complete additional training. In 1971, they permanently settled in Jackson, MS, where Dr. Vise was instrumental in planning and building the Mississippi Methodist Rehabilitation Center and served as CEO, Medical Director, and orthopedic surgeon. Margaret assisted her husband in the numerous medical organizations with which he was involved throughout the world.
Margaret was a capable businesswoman. She was a founder and owner of Inn Serve Corporation, an owner-operator of hotels in the Southeast, with her two brothers and her husband. She owned and operated an agricultural farm in Vance, MS in the Mississippi Delta. She also owned and managed Vise Timber and Land Management, a timberland operation with her husband and two sons.
Margaret joined the First Presbyterian Church of Jackson in 1971 and was an active member for the rest of her life. She served as Vice President of Women in the Church and as a Circle Leader. She was a member and Mississippi Chairwoman of the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America, served as Chairwoman of The Oaks, Jackson's oldest standing home, and served on the National Board of Sulgrave Manor in Sulgrave, England, the ancestral home of George Washington. She was appointed to the board for the Sulgrave Symposium in 2014, which celebrated the bicentennial of the Treaty of Ghent and subsequent Anglo-American relations. She was a member of the 75 Club, Candle-Wasters Dance Club, Tres Gai Luncheon Club, La Soiree, the Palladian Club, Heirloom Antique Club, The Debutante Club of Mississippi, and The Southern Debutante Assembly. Margaret and her husband celebrated the musical arts, and she served two terms on the board of Opera Mississippi.
Margaret lived an incredibly active life and was a true globetrotter. She traveled the world with family and friends, visiting six continents and recently completed a month-long trip to the Far East at the age of 84. She enjoyed wing-shooting, often traveling to Scotland, England, Spain, and Argentina for various hunts including a particular passion for pheasant shooting. She also enjoyed horseback riding, fly fishing, whitetail deer hunting, skiing, snorkeling in the islands, and tennis. She loved attending social events and maintained a busy social calendar across the Southeast. However, her favorite activity was visiting her farm in Bolton, MS, where she and her husband restored and preserved the historic antebellum home built in 1840 on the property, raised cattle, rode horses, maintained polo horses and polo fields, and relaxed with her husband, children, and grandchildren.
Margaret was a devoted wife, mother, and grandmother always putting family first and was affectionately known as "Maggie" to her grandchildren. Margaret is survived by her two sons, Guy Thompson Vise, III, and James Wilbourn Vise (Heather), five grandsons, James Wilbourn Vise, Jr. (Adele), Campbell Shea Vise (Mary Lauren), Collins Wilbourn Vise, Healy Shea Vise (Mary Hunter), and Benjamin Spencer Vise, her brother James G. Wilbourn (Jane), her sister-in-law Deanna Wilbourn, and her nieces and nephews, Richard E. Wilbourn, III, Elizabeth Wilbourn Williamson (Russell), Garnett Wilbourn Hutton (Tom), James Cox Wilbourn (Maya), Sarah Wilbourn Gallagher (Matt), and Andrew Sturdivant Wilbourn (Jenny). She was predeceased by her husband, Dr. Guy Thompson Vise, Jr., her parents, James Cox Wilbourn and Garnett Sturdivant Wilbourn, and her brother, Richard E. Wilbourn, II. Pallbearers will be her five grandsons and her nephews and nephews-in-law.
The family expresses its sincerest gratitude to Debbie Landry, Linda Gibbs, Hema Mehta, Charles McDuffy and James Pate for their many years of friendship, loving care, and devotion to Mrs. Vise.
Visitation will be at First Presbyterian Church, 1390 North State Street, Jackson, MS, June 20, 2025, from 9:30 am until the time of the funeral service at 11:00 a.m. with Reverend J. Ligon Duncan III and Reverend Billy Dempsey officiating. A graveside service will follow at 3:30 p.m. at Magnolia Cemetery, 2638 23rd Avenue, Meridian, MS, with Reverend Richard M. Vise, Jr. and Reverend Billy Dempsey officiating. Sebrell Funeral Home of Ridgeland, MS and Barham Funeral Home of Meridian, MS are handling arrangements. In lieu of flowers the family requests that memorials be made to First Presbyterian Church, 1390 North State Street, Jackson, MS; Reformed Theological Seminary, 4268 I-55 North, Jackson, MS 39211; or Belhaven University, 1500 Peachtree Street, Jackson, MS, 39202.