Feb. 7, 1927 – March 8, 2013

VIDALIA — Services for Joann Copeland Sessions, 86, of Natchez, who died peacefully at her home entering God’s kingdom Friday, March 8, 2013, will be at 3 p.m. Sunday at Good Shepherd Episcopal Church in Vidalia.

Burial will follow at Evergreen Cemetery in Woodville under the direction of Newman Funeral Home in Centreville.

Visitation will be from 5 to 7 p.m. today at the funeral home in Woodville and from 2 p.m. until service time Sunday at the church.

Mrs. Sessions was born Feb. 7, 1927, the daughter of Joseph E. Copeland and Ellen H. Copeland.

Joann grew up in Rusk, Texas, with her parents and younger brother, Paul. She graduated from Rusk High School in 1944 and attended Stephen F. Austin College in Nacogdoches, Texas, before transferring to Louisiana State University where she met her future husband, James M. Sessions III, and earning a bachelor degree in arts and sciences in 1948. Joann and Jimmy married the following year on April 3, 1949, and made their home for the next 60 years in Woodville. There Joann settled in as a homemaker and mother.

She was a member of the United Methodist Church in Woodville and served as an active member of the UMW, a Sunday school teacher and vacation Bible school teacher. Other civic contributions included her tenure as a Cub Scout den mother and a board member of Wilkinson County Christian Academy. Following Jimmy’s death in 2009, Joann made her home in Natchez.

Mrs. Sessions was preceded in death by her husband; her parents; one brother, Paul; and sister-in-Christ, Maggie Porter.

Survivors include two children, Ellen Chadwick Sessions of Zachary, La., and James Timothy Sessions and wife, Donna, of Natchez; two grandchildren, Mary Frances Sessions of Natchez and Corley Anne Session Ross and husband, Jacob, of Vicksburg; two sisters-in-law, Delores Copeland and Carolyn Kee; extended family members, Arthur and Everlena Prater, Linda Linscomb and Jimmy Corey Jr.; and a number of nieces and nephews.

Pallbearers will be Louis “Preacher” Jordan, Rick Loftin, Bentley Curry, Phil Lindley, Paul Vaughn and Joe Drake.

Honorary pallbearers will be Enloe Kee, James Vines, Jimmy Corey Jr., Arthur Prater, Donnie Holloway, Charles Caldwell and Jerry Foster.