Marie Howard Proctor Beene

Marie Howard Proctor Beene passed away early in the morning on July 31, 2021, at Baptist Memorial Hospital from complications due to Covid.

Services for Marie will be held on Saturday, August 14, at Lowndes Funeral Home with Bro. Byron Benson officiating.  Visitation will be at 1:00 and a short service will follow at 2:00; a private burial at Friendship Cemetery, Columbus, MS will follow afterward. Because of the recent uptick in Covid cases, the family respectfully requests that folks stay home if they are not feeling well; we will completely understand.

Marie was born in the Lone Oak community of Clay County, Mississippi, on January 1, 1935, to Carl and Gertrude Proctor.  Because she was born on New Year's Day, her parents didn't have to pay the doctor for her delivery.  Marie was the 6 ^th daughter out of 9 children in her family and grew up on their family farm near West Point.  As a young girl she helped do chores around the house and to earn some extra money, she put together beehive frames for her uncle who raised and sold bees and honey. Marie graduated from West Point High School in 1953 and worked for a while as a secretary before she met and married Lonnie Byron Beene, Jr., from Booneville, MS, on August 3, 1958, and they moved to Columbus.  She and L.B. welcomed 4 children in the next few years: Daphne Elaine, Howard Byron (who died at 6 weeks of age), Carl Fleming, and Marsha Marie.

Marie was a stay-at-home mom until 1971 when she began working for the Columbus Municipal School District as a reading tutor for the new Title 1 program. She learned how to help students who were struggling with reading and worked at this job for 28 years before retiring in 1999.  Her last position was at Sale Elementary where she worked with third graders as an assistant teacher.  Many teachers and students fondly remember "Mrs. Beene" from her years at Sale.

Marie was an avid gardener, an accomplished seamstress, and loved to cook for her family and for others in need; she always preferred being outside digging in the dirt to being inside the house on any day! She enjoyed growing and canning vegetables, making jelly, and everybody loved her sweet pickles. She also enjoyed watching birds and planting flowers. Marie was also talented with a crochet needle and always seemed to have a project going--afghans, baby blankets, and scarves-- for as long as she was able.  She also tried her hand at other kinds of needlework--quilting, counted cross stitch, candlewicking, ribbon embroidery--and a host of other crafts and she enjoyed gifting them to others. Marie loved all kinds of flowers, but her favorites were pansies in the fall and petunias in the spring. Her favorite color—appropriately—was green.

Marie was saved as a young girl and faithfully attended church at East End Baptist in Columbus until her health no longer allowed her to.  She had a quiet faith, but she lived her faith by doing for others in their time of need. Family members, neighbors from Shelton Street where she lived for 50 years, and many church friends benefitted from her cooking skills and "happies" that she liked to make and share.  She helped in Vacation Bible School and worked in the church nursery for years and also enjoyed her Sunday School class meetings as well as luncheons with the Super Seniors from East End.

Marie was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, L.B., her infant son Howard, and her sisters Mildred Proctor, Edna Earle McFadden, Dorothy Lee, Nellie McKee, and her infant brother William.

She is survived by her daughters Daphne Bordelon (Al) and Marsha Rhoades (Randy) of Columbus, her son Carl (Amy) of Fayetteville, NC, and her sisters Carlene Dodson (C.A.) of Columbus, Barbara Loper of West Point, and Cathy Moss (Kenneth) of Natchez, her brothers-in-law Jack Beene of Mt. Pleasant, TX, and Bob Greenburg of Cordova, TN, and a host of nieces and nephews who loved their Aunt Marie. She also leaves behind her grandchildren Tyler Beene, Ashley Hawk, Wesley Bordelon, Hannah Rhoades, Rachel Pugh (Alex), Kathryn Owens, Martha Hobson (Collin), Cullen Beene (Carin) and Molly Beene, and 11 great-grandchildren, all of whom loved their Grandma.

Pallbearers will be Tyler Beene, Wesley Bordelon, Cullen Beene,  Alex Pugh, James Hawk, and Jack Gordman, Jr.

Memorials in Marie's memory can be sent to East End Baptist Church Building Fund, PO Box 8480, Columbus, MS 39705.

We will miss her greatly, but we rejoice knowing that she is healed in heaven and look forward to seeing her again one day.