Mary L. Culpepper

Funeral services for Mary Elizabeth Lansmon Culpepper will be held Thursday, July 14, 2016, at 11:00 a.m. at Robert Barham Family Funeral Home with Father Jose’ Sanchez officiating. Burial will follow at Forest Lawn Memory Garden. Visitation will begin an hour before services.

Mary, 86, was a longtime resident of Chunky. She passed away Saturday, July 9, 2016, at Brookdale Meridian, where she had lived for the past few months.

A member of St. Patrick Catholic Church in Meridian, Mary also served as a lector and Eucharistic minister at St. Anne Catholic Church in Newton.

Born to George and Catherine Lansmon in Chaffee, Missouri, Mary graduated from St. Mary High School in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. She had already begun a profession as a secretary when she met her husband, Clarence. Marrying in 1952, they lived in several towns in Kansas and Mississippi before raising a family in Meridian. Mary continued her secretarial career working at The Meridian Star and Meridian Community College. Her longest tenure, though, was with the Federal Aviation Administration, and she worked at both the Key Field and NAS-Meridian facilities. She also served as president of the state board of Professional Secretaries International.

Mary furthered her education while working full time, graduating with honors from Meridian Community College in 1974 and Mississippi State University in 2001. She was an active member of the Sowashee Writers’ Group, specializing in short essays and poems examining the wonders of everyday life.

Mary’s family and friends will remember her as a generous hostess. She and Clarence entertained hundreds during Independence Day barbeques at their riverside farm. Those who knew Mary will recall her quick wit and delight in rock ‘n’ roll, new clothes, and the company of her grandsons and great-granddaughters. She also had boundless affection for animals, especially the dogs and cats lucky enough to live with her.

Survivors include her children, George and Ann Culpepper of Meridian, Mary Kay Culpepper and Cullen Clark of Birmingham, Alabama, and Kay and Edward Thomas, also of Meridian; grandchildren, Daniel and Emily Culpepper of Madison, Mississippi, David and Carrie Culpepper of Bossier City, Louisiana, and Ryan and Ashley Thomas of Huntsville, Alabama; her twin great-granddaughters, Addison and Hayden Culpepper of Madison, Mississippi. Mary is also survived by her brother and sister-in-law, James and Edith Lansmon of Cape Giradeau, Missouri; sisters-in-law, Bobbie Walker and Louise Culpepper, both of Meridian; and numerous nieces and nephews, some of whom knew her as Aunt Liz.

She was preceded in death by her parents, and by Clarence, to whom she was married for sixty-two years.

Pallbearers will be Daniel Culpepper, David Culpepper, Ryan Thomas, Jimmy Culpepper, Bill Lansmon, and Beauchamp Jones.

Her family suggests that donations in Mary’s memory be made to East Mississippi Animal Rescue and the Memory Impairment and Neurodegenerative Dementia Center at University of Mississippi Medical Center ( http://www.umc.edu/MINDdonate ). Family and friends are invited to share their memories of Mary in the online guestbook at robertbarhamffh.com.