Visitation will be held from 5:00 to 7:00 PM on Thursday, August 16, 2018 at Lakewood Funeral Home. Funeral services will be held at Parkway Baptist Church on Friday at 11:00 AM with a visitation beginning at 9:00 AM. Interment will follow at Lakewood Memorial Park.
Sara was born in Murrray, KY on May 14, 1922. The daughter of George and Mamie Wallis, she spent most of her early years in the Memphis area. She studied at Blue Mountain College in north Mississippi, earning recognition in Who’s Who in American Colleges and Universities. Upon graduation, she moved to Jackson, MS, and worked for the Mississippi Baptist Association, teaching study courses in small churches all over the state. It was on one of these assignments that she was met at the Natchez bus station by a handsome young church member named Bethel Ferguson, with whom she promptly fell in love. They enjoyed a very brief, distant courtship, and were married six months later.
Sara and Bethel made their first home in Natchez, where he worked for Mississippi Power and Light Company. They rented a very small apartment – Bethel could sit on the couch and put his feet on the opposite wall! There was a screened porch on the front, which allowed them to sleep comfortably, when the summer heat became oppressive. Although he had only a high school degree, he became known in the company as a capable employee, and was offered an opportunity to move to Jackson as an assistant in the legal department, while he attended night law school. He successfully completed the courses and passed the bar exam, eventually becoming the company’s lead attorney.
Sara and Bethel both had a deep commitment to their Christian faith, and became active members of Parkway Baptist Church in Jackson, MS. Both taught Sunday School, sang in the choir, and were leaders among the membership. Bethel served as a deacon and multiple times as Deacon Chairman. Sara was active in the Women’s Missionary Union, and filled many service roles in the church.
In 2004, after celebrating their 60th anniversary, they sold their home in Jackson and moved to Riggs Manor retirement home near Jackson. Bethel passed away there in 2009; after a couple of years alone, Sara moved to be near her daughter and family in Chattanooga. Sara is survived by their two children, Margaret (Louis) Johnson of Signal Mountain and George (Linda) Ferguson of Chesnee, SC, five grandchildren and twelve great grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorials be sent to Parkway Baptist Church of Clinton, MS.
