Services for Ouida Lee Brett of Meridian, MS, will be held on March 31 at First Baptist Church in Meridian at 10:30 am with the Rev. Dr. Raymon Leake officiating. Burial will be in Memorial Park Cemetery. Visitation with the family will begin at 9:30 am in the church chapel prior to the service. A meal will be served at the church following the burial service. Mrs. Brett, 94, died Saturday March 27, 2010 in Little Rock, Arkansas. She was born Ouida Lee Kidd in Enterprise, Mississippi on August 19th, 1915. She is one of nine children born to Edward Kress and Annie Elizabeth Kidd. She grew up on a farm near Enterprise, and finished high school at Enterprise High where she played on the varsity basketball team her junior and senior years. After graduating from high school, her older brother Johnny offered to pay her tuition to attend nursing school in nearby Meridian. She jumped at this chance to leave the hard work of the farm. Mrs. Brett graduated near the top of her class and passed the state board examination to become a Registered Nurse in 1941. She spent the next 30 years doing what she loved most-nursing and caring for others. Soon after graduation, she married her soul-mate, JB Griffith, and they had three children. Her husband died in 1962, and she was widowed twice more after marrying Everett Crudup in 1966 and Willard Brett in 1974. JB gave her his love and her children, while Everett encouraged and shared her joy of life, and Willard gave her warm companionship. She endeared herself to all who knew her for her plain speaking, her quick mind, and for having the perfect witticism for any occasion, including her legendary Saturday and Sunday dinners. Friends and relatives would drive hundreds of miles, through the night if necessary, in order to arrive in time for dinner, where they were assured of greens, lima beans, black-eyed peas and okra, all cooked in the proper southern style. And of course corn bread, the best there ever was. And chocolate pie for the ages. At these dinners children and grandchildren learned more than the virtues of good food. They learned the importance of family, and of dedication and service to others. Mrs. Brett learned these values growing up during the depression as a farm girl and later as a nurse at Rush Memorial Hospital in Meridian, where she rose to the position of nurse supervisor. Years after she retired, former patients looked her up and told how she had helped them through a critical time with a special kindness. She considered it simply good nursing care. They considered her an angel on Earth. Her example was such that both daughters became nurses. She has always loved music, and enjoyed listening to almost all types of music, especially big band and the oldies of the 40's and 50's. She was quick to tell you that "nobody loves music more than I do." Survivors include her son, John Berry Griffith and wife Theresa Moffett of Collinsville, Miss., and two daughters: Elizabeth Ann Coleman and husband, Lawrence Arnold of Little Rock, Ark., and Glenda Joyce Griffith of Meridian; six grandchildren, Gregory Griffith, Michelle Griffith Joyner, Sonya Coleman LaVergne, Roxanne Coleman Jones, Jason Coleman, and Todd Rainer; her beloved step-daughter, Carolyn Brett Creasey and husband, Bert, and her children, Carianne Carroll Marien and Patrick Carroll; and thirteen great-grandchildren.
