Mary Grace McMillin

1931 - 2025

Mary Grace Herrington McMillin peacefully entered heaven November 15, 2025, at St. Catherine's Village in Madison, Mississippi. Grace was born February 17, 1931, in Heidelberg, Mississippi, to Tom Brame Herrington and Alzah Elizabeth Grace Herrington. Grace soon moved with her family to Monroe County, Mississippi, where she graduated from Aberdeen High School in 1949. She spent the next four years at Mississippi State College for Women earning a Bachelor of Science in Home Economics in 1953. Grace continued her education earning a Master of Arts in Home Economics from the University of Mississippi in 1972.

Upon graduation from MSCW, she accepted a position with the Mississippi Extension Service in Fulton, Mississippi, and then moved to Ripley, Mississippi, becoming the Home Demonstration Agent for Tippah County. It was there she met and married Troy Neal McMillin. After their two children enrolled in school, she began a twenty-six-year career in the high school classroom. She spent many happy years instructing her beloved students in the art and science of home economics at Pine Grove High School, Falkner High School and finally at Ripley High School where she retired in 1992.

Her constant and abiding faith in Jesus led her to serve as a Bible teacher at First Baptist Church of Ripley as well as being an active member of the Women's Missionary Union. Through the years she spent countless hours supporting missions through the many opportunities WMU provided. A life-long student of the Bible, she encouraged many others through her teaching by challenging them to answer God's call on their life whatever that may have been. She also enjoyed reading, sewing for her family and others, traveling, listening to Ole Miss sports by radio, and serving as librarian at St. Catherine's Village.

Preceded in death by her parents and her husband, Grace loved her family and is survived by her two children, Mary Elizabeth McMillin Sharman and husband, Dr. William Robert Sharman III of Oxford, Mississippi, and Thomas Neal McMillin, Sr. and wife, Ruth Hurt McMillin, of Madison, Mississippi; six grandchildren, Dr. William Bradford Sharman and wife, Dr. Rosalia Romero, of Claremont, California; Robert Thomas Sharman of Oxford, Mississippi; Mary Katherine Sharman Garcia and husband, Robert Garcia III, of Marietta, Georgia; Thomas Neal McMillin, Jr. and wife, Keely Childress McMillin of Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Ruth Allison McMillin Griffin and husband, Dr. Kerry Scott Griffin of Carrollton, Georgia; and Preston Hurt McMillin of Nashville, Tennessee; and five great-grandchildren, Charlene Grace McMillin, Isla Rose McMillin, Cecilia Rose Sharman, Adeline Elizabeth Garcia, and Daphne Ruth Griffin. She is also survived by her sister, Margaret Herrington Barber, sister-in-law, Lonnie McMillin Hurley, nephews, Jimmy McMillin and Mark Barber, and nieces, Gale McMillin Humphries, Linda Barber Baldock, and Linda McMillin Cameron. She also leaves behind her special friend and neighbor, Joann Munn, along with her special nieces, Staci Munn Lewis and Shelley Munn Akins.

A service will be held Saturday, November 22, 2025, at noon at First Baptist Church of Ripley. Visitation will begin at 10:30am in the sanctuary until the service. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorials be made to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering - International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention or My Choices Pregnancy Help Clinic in Ripley, Mississippi.