STARKVILLE — Janette Ward Self, 88, died Feb. 27, 2026, at UAB Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama. 

Funeral services will be at 11 a.m. Friday, at Beth-el M.B. Church, with Juan Ray Self officiating. Burial will follow at Odd Fellows Cemetery. Visitation will be from 1-6 p.m. Thursday, at Second Baptist Church. Hairston and Hairston Funeral Home of Starkville is in charge of arrangements. 

Mrs. Self was born Aug. 9, 1937, in Starkville, to the late Monroe and Emma Ward. She attended Jackson State University and was formerly employed as a nurse at Felix Long Memorial Hospital, a teller at Peoples Bank, as an industrial nurse at Badcock & Wilcox, at Oktibbeha County Hospital and Oktibbeha County Chancery Clerk.  She was a member of Second Baptist Church. 

She is survived by her sons, Michael of Starkville and Gerald of Madison; daughters, Deirdre Yvette Birts of Augusta, Georgia, and Sonya Rogers of Starkville; brother, Albert Ward Chicago, Illinois; grandchildren; and great-grandchildren.