Oct. 2, 1929 – April 3, 2011

NATCHEZ — Services for deaconess Mary Alice Washington Pettis, 81, of Natchez, who died Sunday, April 3, 2011, at Natchez Community Hospital, will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at Christian Hope Baptist Church with the Rev. John Scott Jr. officiating.

Burial will follow at Rounds Family Cemetery under the direction of Robert D. Mackel and Sons Funeral Home.

Visitation will be from noon to 7 p.m. today at the funeral home and from 10 a.m. until service time Saturday at the church.

Mrs. Pettis was born Oct. 2, 1929, the daughter of Will Washington Sr. and Alice Rounds Washington.

She accepted Christ as her personal Savior at an earlier age in Tuskegee, Ala. When she returned home she united with King Solomon Baptist Church under the leadership of the Rev. Willie Scott. She later united with Christian Hope Baptist Church under the leadership of the Rev. John Scott Jr. She remained there until she heard those wonderful words, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant; enter unto the joy of thy Lord.”

Deaconess Pettis served as a deaconess for a number of years. She loved her church and pastor and worked diligently in the church through several auxiliaries.

Mary Alice loved her family and they will always remember those wonderful annual Thanksgiving dinners she cooked for the “whole” family. Her faith, courage and determination was a source of inspiration to her family, friends and all who knew her.

Mary Alice was united in holy matrimony to William Pettis in Chicago. To this union, three daughters and two sons were born.

She was preceded in death by her parents; one son, William Thomas Washington; four sisters, Winnie Reynolds, St. Arby Thompson, Naomi Daily and Dinah Ealey; one granddaughter, Sierra Glenn; and three great-grandchildren.

Survivors include three daughters, Patricia McGee of Missouri City, Texas, Kathryn Washington and Gwendolyn Vanderson, both of Natchez; one son, Keith Washington and wife, Betty, of Sugarland, Texas; 13 grandchildren, Terri Walker and husband, Robert, Kevin Washington and Marcus Washington, all of Sugarland, Djuana Montgomery and husband, Erec, of Belgium, Yvonne Weed and husband, Calvin, of Chicago, Tabitha McGee of Round Rock, Texas, Timotheus McGee and wife, Claudia, of Richmond, Texas, Kimberly Vanderson of Pearland, Texas, Rashon Haralson of LaHabra, Calif., Nicole Logan and husband, Henry, of Baton Rouge, William West and wife, Rebecca, Christopher Jones and wife, Sherina, and I’Jose West, all of Natchez; 27 great-grandchildren; two sisters, Bertha Green of Natchez and Dorothy Thompson and husband, Joseph, of Sibley; three brothers, Chester Washington of Sibley, Will Washington Jr. and wife, Shirley, of Vidalia and Elijah Washington Sr. and wife, Lucinda, of Chicago; one brother-in-law, James Thompson of Sibley; one sister-in-law, Alice Washington of Chicago; and a number of nieces, nephews, cousins and friends.