Bessie Davis

Published 12:00 am Friday, June 18, 2010

NATCHEZ — Services for Bessie Mae Davis, 71, of Natchez, who died Monday, June 14, 2010, at Natchez Regional Medical Center, will be at 1 p.m. Saturday at Pilgrim Baptist Church with the Rev. James Beverly officiating.

Burial will follow at St. Paul Baptist Church Cemetery under the direction of Williams and Williams Funeral Home.

Visitation will be from 6 to 7 p.m. today at the funeral home and from noon until service time Saturday at the church.

Mrs. Davis was born Jan. 1, 1939, in Natchez, the daughter of Thomas Williams Sr. and Mamie Lee Williams. She accepted Christ at an early age and became a member of Pry’s Temple Baptist Church. Later she moved her membership to St. Paul Baptist Church in Washington. Bessie was united in holy matrimony to George Henry Davis.

Bessie received her education from the Natchez public school system. She was a graduate of Sadie V. Thompson High School. She furthered her education by taking classes at Alcorn State University. She deeply loved children and the elderly. As a result, she was a kindergarten teacher at AJFC Head Start and she spent a number of years as a private duty nurse.

She was preceded in death by her mother and one sister, Gloria Jean Williams.

Survivors include her father; one son, Dewayne Davis and wife, Virginia; seven daughters, Creseda Crawford and husband, Leon, Deautral Davis and husband, Dan, and Joyce Johnson, all of Natchez, Phyllis Haywood, Rhonda Page and Luvette Baldwin and husband, Willie, all of Atlanta, and Lucretia Butler and husband, Kenneth, of Houston, Texas; five sisters, Mamie Sylvester of Tracy, Calif., Edrena Smith and husband, Raythell, Andrea Anderson and husband, James, all of Natchez, Rose Mary Williams and Chiquita Edwards, both of Chicago; eight brothers, Thomas Williams and wife, Irene, Robert Williams and wife, Mary Ann, all of Los Angeles, Morris Williams and Norris Williams, both of Natchez, Benard Williams Floyd Williams and Billy Williams, all of Chicago, and Fred Robinson and wife, Carolyn, of Jackson; 15 grandchildren; one great-grandchild; and a number of nieces, nephews and cousins.