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April 19, 1934 – March 19, 2022

WOODVILLE – Services for Mollie Frances Catchings Devening, of Woodville, MS, who died March 19, 2022, will be held at 4 p.m. Tuesday, March 22, 2022, at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Woodville with Rev. Dr. Walter Van Zandt Windsor officiating. Burial will follow at Evergreen Cemetery in Woodville under the direction of Newman Funeral Home. Visitation will be at the church from 3 p.m. until the time of service. After the burial, everyone is invited for a repast in the church’s fellowship hall.

Frances, the daughter of Dr. Charles Evans Catchings, Jr. and Frances Elizabeth Lawson Catchings, was born on April 19, 1934, in Woodville, MS where she spent her childhood. She later graduated with a degree in education from the University of Mississippi in 1955. While at Ole Miss, she was a member of Kappa Delta Sorority, in which she remained active for more than fifty years.

After college, Frances moved to Natchez and married Donald C. Devening. She spent many years teaching in Natchez public schools and was active in the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Pilgrimage Garden Club. She loved spending time with her best friends at the Pilgrimage Garden Club headquarters. She never forgot her students and enjoyed seeing them as they grew up in Natchez.

After the death of her husband, Frances returned to Woodville. She worked for many years at the Woodville Republican newspaper and was an active member of the Woodville Zoning Commission. She also looked forward each year to Ole Miss football season and attended many home games with her sister and brother-in-law.

Frances was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Donald C. Devening; her sister, Lallie Catchings Owens and her brother, Charles Evans Catchings, III.

She is survived by her three sons, Charles Catchings Devening and wife, Anna, Kenneth Lawson Devening and wife, Liesel and William Woods Devening. She was affectionately known Frannie to her grandchildren, Mollie and Kimble, Lawson, Julia and Clayton and Catie Grey and Conlee. Survivors also include her sister, Ann Catchings Ventress and husband, James A. Ventress, III; her sister-in-law, Patricia Kelly Catchings and her brother-in-law Dr. Louis Jennings Owens.

Pallbearers will be Lawson Devening, Clayton Devening, James A. Ventress, IV, Charles E. Catchings, IV, Andrew Lewis and Guy Stout.

The family extends a special thank you to Wilma Peterson for the love and care she gave Frances.

The family also thanks the staff at Wilkinson County Senior Rehab in Centreville for their care and compassion.

Donations can be made to St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Woodville or the Woodville Civic Club.