Lela Booth Patton died Monday, January 21, 2013, at Infinity Hospice, in Meridian, Mississippi after an extended illness. Her services will be Friday, January 25, 2013, at Anguilla United Methodist Church in Anguilla, Mississippi at 2:00 p.m. with Reverend Ron Gomillion officiating, with visitation one hour prior to the service. Burial will be at Golden Link Cemetery in Anguilla. Robert Barham Family Funeral Home will be in charge of the arrangements. Lela was born in Tupelo, Mississippi on May 29, 1925, to George Henry and Helen McDonald Booth. She lived in Tupelo until she left for college to attend the "W", now Mississippi University for Women. Her junior year she transferred to Ole Miss where she met her husband of thirty years, Harry Edward Patton, Jr., of Greenwood. While at Ole Miss she was a member of Tri Delta Sorority. Upon their graduation from Ole Miss and marriage, she and Harry moved to the small Delta farming community of Nitta Yuma where they raised their three children. Lela was a longtime member of Anguilla United Methodist Church where she was a member of the UMW, and a faithful member of the choir serving as their pianist and choir director. While in the Delta, she enjoyed membership in the Anguilla Garden Club and also loved her bridge groups. Lela was a gifted pianist who played by ear, and delighted many people socially, in her church, and for her family with that gift. After the death of Harry in 1978, she moved to Memphis where she resided for twenty years. In Memphis, she was an active member of Christ United Methodist Church where she was pianist for her Sunday school class, and was also a member of The Woman's Exchange, Coterie, and numerous bridge clubs. With failing health, she moved to Meridian in 2004, to be near her daughter. There she resided at Aldersgate Retirement Community for four years, and most recently, The Fisher House. She is survived by her children, Harry Edward Patton, III (Pat) and his wife Debbie, of Nitta Yuma, Helen Patton Valentine, and her husband Lee of Meridian, and William Thomas Patton (Bill) and his wife Kerri of Collierville, Tennessee; grandchildren Harry Edward Patton, IV, Carroll Turnley Patton, Nelson Lee Valentine, Patton Thomas Valentine, Mary Lela Valentine and William Thomas Patton, Jr. (Will); great-grandchild Mary Larkin Patton. She is also survived by her faithful and loving caregivers, Cathy and Dwayne Fisher and Pam Walk of The Fisher House. Pallbearers will be her grandsons, and her nephews Ernest Tucker Felts, Jr. of Brentwood, Tennessee and George Henry Booth, II of Tupelo. She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, her brothers, George Henry Booth, Jr., William Thomas Booth and her sister Helen Booth Felts. The family requests that memorial donations be made to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, The Alzheimer's Association or Anguilla United Methodist Church, 631 Front Street, Anguilla, Mississippi 38721
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