Lyda "Jean" Oden Powe

Graveside services for Mrs. Lyda “Jean” Oden Powe will begin at 11:30 AM Saturday, January 13, 2024 at Gum Log Cemetery with Mr. Tommy Ainsworth officiating. Interment will follow graveside rites. Robert Barham Family Funeral Home is honored to be entrusted with the arrangements.

Mrs. Powe, 84, of Bailey, formerly of the Enondale Community in Kemper County, went peacefully to be with her Lord, Sunday, January 7, 2024 at Anderson Regional Medical Center in Meridian.

Mrs. Powe was a retired medical transcriptionist and legal secretary. In 1992 she received the Disabled Professional Woman of the Year from the Pilot Club while working with Self, Jacobs, and Kierokski Attorneys.

Mrs. Powe was born December 24, 1939 to Thad (Eugene Thaddeus) and Mona Mae Keeton Oden in Meridian, MS and grew up in the Enondale Community of Kemper County.

At age 11, She was stricken with polio and spent three months in Mercy Hospital in Vicksburg, MS. After recovering and walking with crutches, she went back to school in Porterville, MS and after graduating she attended East Mississippi Junior College in Scooba, MS.

She enjoyed working with the Jimmie Rodger Festivals. She would take a week’s vacation to help with transporting the artist, and their band members, to and from their hotel to the Temple Theatre.

Mrs. Jean is survived by her son, George L. “Sonny” Powe, III (Melanie Dawn); her sister, Ora Lee “Shine” Pogue (Gerald); her niece Jamie Ainsworth (Tommy); her two adopted grandsons, who lovingly called her Jeanjean, Eli Garvin and Travis Ainsworth (their visits always brightened her day) and a host of cousins and extended family members.

She is preceded in death by her parents; her grandparents, J.S. “Sam” and Maggie Oden and William Thomas and Ola Grantham Keeton, as well as a host of aunts, uncles, and cousins.

Pallbearers will be Danny Garrett, Eli Garvin, Randy Benson, Andrew Sheahan, Travis Ainsworth, and Erick Lashley.

Online condolences may be expressed at robertbarhamffh.com.

The Powe family suggests memorials be made as donations to St. Jude Children’s Hospital or to Blair E. Batson Children’s Hospital in lieu of flowers.

The Powe family will receive guests from 10:00 AM until 11:00 AM prior to departure to the cemetery.