Melva Cathleen Brown, 83, passed away Tuesday morning, July 19, 2022, at her home in Pope.

Funeral services will be held at 11  a.m. on Friday, July 22,  at Liberty Hill Baptist Church with the interment to follow in the church cemetery. The family will receive friends one hour prior to the service.

Cathleen was born on October 26, 1938 in Lexington, MS to the late Malvin Smith and Irene Hoover Smith. She was a devoted wife, mother, grandmother, and Christian throughout her life. She would often be found in the kitchen, whether she was cooking supper or baking something delicious. Cathleen was a faithful member of the Liberty Hill Baptist Church.

In her earlier years, she thoroughly enjoyed being a member of the Lady Petroleum’s Club and serving as the former Director of the Woman’s Missionary Union. Some of her favorite pastimes include sewing, crossword puzzles, and Scrabble.

Cathleen’s family will remember her joy she received through The Operation Christmas Child-Shoebox Ministry that came around every fall. It was always her mission to pick up a few things for the shoebox every time she went to the store. She would even send her homemade sewn dresses and blankets in the shoebox.

The family she leaves behind includes her four children, James H. “Jim” Simmons, Jr. (Mally) of Boise, Idaho, David Michael Simmons (Angie) of Eufaula, Oklahoma, Cheryl Powers (Tom) of Williston, North Dakota, and Donna S. Karasic (Ron) of Baltimore, Maryland; one sister, Charlotte Robertson of Greenwood; 6 grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren; and her two precious caregivers, Beth and Charles Dees.

Along with her parents, she is preceded in death by her first husband, James H. Simmons and her second husband, James J. Brown.