May 4, 1929 – Dec. 7, 2018

NATCHEZ —A Requiem Mass for Jane Saunders Stewart, 89, who died Friday, Dec. 7, 2018, will be 3 p.m. Saturday at Trinity Episcopal Church.

Burial will follow at the Natchez City Cemetery under the direction of Laird Funeral Home.

Visitation will be from 2 p.m. until service time Saturday at the church.

Mrs. Stewart was born May 4, 1929, in Jackson, the daughter of Charles Evans Saunders Jr. and Grace McLean Saunders.

After graduating from Murphy High School in Mobile, Ala., in 1946, she attended Mississippi State College for Women (MUW).  While at the “W,” she was a member of the Lockhart Social Club and Glee Club. She met her future husband, Marion G. Stewart Jr., at Mississippi State College (MSU). They married on April 9, 1949, and were married almost 66 years before he died in March 2015.

With the USDA Soil Conservation Service, Jane and Marion transferred to a number of cities throughout Mississippi.  She was an active member of the Episcopal church in each community in which they lived. She participated in the choir, Altar Guild, Daughters of the King, ECW, and Jackson’s St. James’ Cooking School. She was also a member of the DAR. They retired to Natchez, where she was a member of Trinity Episcopal Church, the Natchez Garden Club and the Tuesday Ladies’ Lunch Bunch.

Jane enjoyed baking, cross-stitching, sewing and playing bridge. Her cake decorating hobby grew from baking children’s birthday cakes into a small business making wedding and groom’s cakes from scratch.

Survivors include three children, Sarah Anne Holland of Spokane Wash., Jennifer S. Collins of Birmingham, Ala., and Gordon Stewart III  and wife, Sharon, of Ridgeland; seven grandchildren, Heather Holland Siewert and husband, Justin, of Washougal, Wash., Mary Margaret Holland Maglio and husband, Darin, of Spokane, Stewart Collins and wife, April, of Riverview, Fla., Britt Collins Feist and husband, Trevor, of Collierville, Tenn., Mary Allison Collins of Birmingham, Gordon Stewart IV and wife, Catherine, of Richmond, Va., and Morgan Stewart of Jackson; and five great-grandchildren, Evan Maglio, Jackson Collins, McLayne Siewert, Aspen Feist and Saunders Feist.
The family wishes to thank the staff at The Orchard for their care and a special thanks to Victoria, her personal aide.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to Mississippi Chapter JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) or to Trinity Episcopal Church.

Online condolences may be sent to the family at lairdfh.com.