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Sept. 13, 1930 – Jan. 25, 2024
NATCHEZ – Willie Lee Pearson, 93, formerly of Natchez, passed away peacefully on Jan. 25, 2024, at Baptist Memorial Hospital – North Mississippi in Oxford. Services to celebrate her life will be at 11 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 3, 2024, at Laird Funeral Home with Russell Wagoner officiating.

Visitation will begin at 10 a.m. at the funeral home. Burial will follow at Greenlawn Memorial Cemetery under the direction of Laird Funeral Home. 

Born Sept. 13, 1930, in Shreveport, LA, Willie Lee was the daughter of Joseph Samuel McGarver Wilson and Adeline Johnson Wilson. She grew up in Grant Parish, graduated from Georgetown High School in Georgetown, LA, attended Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, LA, and worked for SouthernBell Telephone Company. 

She married Carol Pearson in McComb, MS in 1951 and together they shared 66 years of marriage at their family home in Kingston before he died in 2017.

Willie Lee was a loving and devoted wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and friend. One of her greatest joys was hosting family reunions, Sunday school dinners or International Paper gatherings where she would prepare a from-scratch home-cooked spread for everyone in attendance. Her homemade pecan pies, chocolate pies, and Italian cream cakes were known throughout the entire Miss/Lou community!

A dedicated charter member of Parkway Baptist Church, she enjoyed many years in the Heaven Bound Sunday school class and singing in the choir.

She and Carol enjoyed traveling across the United States and Europe. She enjoyed needlepoint, cross-stitching, cooking, and volunteer work at the hospital and her church.

Willie Lee moved to Oxford in 2017 to be closer to family.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Willie Carol Pearson, and son, Joseph Carol Pearson.

Survivors include her son, Ashton Charles Pearson, Sr. (Kathy) of Oxford; grandchildren Ashton “Chip” Pearson, Jr. (Katie) of Oxford and Matt Pearson (Hilary) of Natchez; Stewart Pearson, Maggie Pearson, Emily Snyder (Drake) all of Star City, AR; and great-grandchildren, Ashton III, Brooks and Caroline of Oxford; Adeline and Sutton of Natchez; and Tynleigh, Rhett and Knox of Star City.

Honorary pallbearers will be Chip Pearson, Matt Pearson, Stewart Pearson, Steve Fulmer, Danny Goldman, James Smith, and Sonny LaFargue.

The family wishes to thank Joseph Johnson and the staff and residents at The Magnolia Oxford Commons for their care, compassion, and friendships and Reverend Warren Black for his many uplifting visits.

Memorials in her name may be made to Oxford University United Methodist Church 424 S. 10th St., Oxford, MS 38655, or to a charity of your choice.

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