Ollie Mason
Posted: September 20, 2012
Ollie Frances Mason, aged 100, died peacefully on September 18, 2012, at Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle. Until her very last day, she was endlessly nurturing everyone around her with her love and wisdom. Visitation for Mrs. Mason will be held Thursday, September 20, 2012, from 6:00 PM until 8:00 PM at Lowndes Funeral Home, Columbus, MS and from 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM prior to her funeral on Friday at Calvary Baptist Church. Funeral services will be Friday, September 21, 2012, at 1:00 PM at Calvary Baptist Church with Rev. Steve Brown and Rev. David Honeycutt officiating. The interment will immediately follow at Lone Oak Cemetery in Steens, MS, with Lowndes Funeral Home, Columbus, MS directing. Mrs. Mason was born to the late James Terrance and Sarah Perkins Smith on April 22, 1912, in Lamar County, Alabama. Mrs. Mason delighted in her long life as a wife, mother and gifted homemaker. She raised 14 children, and used her many gifts to teach them the values of hard work, patience, kindness and love. She took great pride in preparing wonderful, home-cooked meals and always insisted on feeding family and friends. She loved every aspect of rearing her children and dutifully providing for them. She embraced her farm life and thoroughly enjoyed milking her cows, caring for her chickens and tending to her garden where she always grew beautiful vegetables. Her love, strength, hard work and integrity is an inspiration to her children, grandchildren and future generations. In addition to her parents, Mrs. Mason was preceded in death by her husband, Harvey Bryant Mason; daughters, Martha Vaughn and Myrtie Honeycutt; brothers, William Smith, Tollie Smith, J.T. Smith and Grover Smith; sisters, Mattie Morrison and Earlie Edwards; grandchildren, Nathan Vails and Linda Burns; and her little dog, April, whom she dearly loved. She is survived by her sons, John (Jack) Mason and wife, Sue; Bill Mason and wife, Maxine; James Mason and wife, Debra; and Rufus Mason and wife, Jane, all of Columbus, MS; daughters, Margie McRae and husband, Robert; Frances Cooper; Margaret Baucom and husband, Leslie; Thelma Strickland and husband, Steve; and Christine Perrigin and husband, Roger, all of Columbus, MS; Lois Burr-Vincent and husband, Charles of Hastings, MI; Doris Petty and husband, Freeman of Pinebluff, NC; Inez Harcrow and husband, Freeman of Kennedy, AL; 47 grandchildren and an abundance of great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren. Pallbearers are David Mason, Jimmy McRae, Jeffrey McRae, Eugene Cooper, Doug Harcrow, Jamie Baucom, Brannon Mason, Tim Mason and Elijah Perrigin. Mrs. Mason’s grandchildren are her honorary pallbearers. Mrs. Mason was appreciative until her last moments of the love and care shown to her by Dr. Michael Duckworth, the nursing staff at Windsor Place and the third floor nurses and staff at Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle. Memorials may be made to the Lone Oak Cemetery Fund or the Lowndes County Humane Society.