Bessie Fields

Published 12:00 am Friday, December 17, 2010

FERRIDAY — A memorial service for Bessie Merle Walker Fields, 91, of LaCrescenta, Calif., formerly of Ferriday, who died Sunday, Nov. 28, 2010, in Eagle Rock, Calif., will be at 2 p.m. Saturday at First Baptist Church of Ferriday. Her children will lead the service.

Burial will be at 3 p.m. Sunday at Mars Hill Baptist Church Cemetery, in Amite County, under the direction of Comer Funeral Home in Ferriday.

Mrs. Fields was born Sept. 10, 1919, in Lincoln County, the daughter of George Kenna Walker and Bessie Mae Godbold. She was a graduate of Mars Hill High School, Southwest Mississippi Junior College and Louisiana College.

A resident of Ferriday from 1960 to 1993, Mrs. Fields was the wife of the Rev. M.H. Fields, former pastor of First Baptist Church of Ferriday. She taught elementary school students during her early years and later became the district sales representative for the World Book Encyclopedia Company.

She lived an adventurous and fulfilled life as a pastor’s wife and teacher and was active in a number of church and community programs and ministries. According to Mrs. Fields, her greatest accomplishments in life were her ministry as a pastor’s wife and the success of her children in their life’s work and Christian witness.

She was preceded in life by her parents; her husband of 50 years; two sisters, Mary Rita Mounger and Mary B. Parks; and one brother, Nicholas Lafayette Walker.

Survivors include four children and their spouses, Larry and Sandy Fields of Knoxville, Tenn., George Fields of Louisville, Ky., Jerry and Lynda Fields Houser of Salem, Ore., and Bruce and Nancy Fields of Gainesville, Ga.; one daughter-in-law, Marolyn Wright Fields of Louisville; one brother, Thomas Ray Walker of Picayune; nine grandchildren and their spouses, Mitchell and Jennifer Fields of Louisville, Michael Fields and John and Allison Fields, all of Knoxville, Heather and Eric Stern of Maplewood, N.J., Daniel Fields of Oakwood, Ga., Graham and Michelle Houser and Rebecca Houser, all of Portland, Ore., Lydia Fields of Atlanta and Andrew Fields of Gainesville, Ga.; seven great-grandchildren, Maddie Stern, Benjamin Fields, Jake Fields, Zachary Stern, Evelyn Fields, Sarah Hazel Fields and Emma Grace Fields.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial gifts in Mrs. Fields’ memory be made to First Baptist Church, P.O. Box 386, Ferriday, LA 71334, or Mars Hill Baptist Church, 6145 North Greensburg Road, Summit, MS 39666.