Miriam Lesley Whitten

Miriam Bonner Lesley Whitten escaped from her mortal body into everlasting peace on Thursday, July 30, 2015. She is enjoying newfound freedom from the limitations of the flesh and has been reunited with precious family who went before including her husband, Nathaniel Murry Whitten and her parents Mary Elizabeth Barkley Lesley and Clyde Wilson Lesley along with her brothers Robert Barkley “Bob” Lesley and Clyde William “Bill” Lesley.

She leaves behind her daughter Lesley Whitten Morton [Jimmy] and her son, Nathaniel Craig Whitten [Cecile] and three grandchildren, Wilson Pressly Whitten, David Murry Whitten and Elizabeth McEachern Whitten, along with her sister Mary Elizabeth “Tip” Lesley Power and numerous nieces, nephews and “greats”.

Mimi [as she was named by her sister’s children] was born in New Albany, MS in 1923, and graduated from Holly Springs High School where she enjoyed music and athletics. She graduated from Mississippi State College for Women [now MUW] where she developed friends from around the southeast. Upon graduation, she taught school subjects in home economics, math and history, before moving on to work in various business office positions including the Ford Motor Plant in Memphis. She was recognized there as one of the most fashionable women in the company. While visiting the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church in Memphis she met her future husband, with whom she had shared a home town. After living for a year in Pascagoula, MS,she and Murry made their home in Memphis, TN, where they lived until following their children to Brandon, MS in 1999. Miriam was always active in her church, holding various leadership positions in women’s ministry and the choir. In retirement years, she enjoyed travelling throughout the United States on Barkley Bus Tours with friends and keeping up with her grandchildren and her neighborhood friends in East Memphis and then in Crossgates.

Miriam will be remembered by friends and family as a wonderful cook, seamstress, pianist, homemaker, supportive wife, mother and friend. A lover of musical Psalm singing, she cherished many friends and years of joy from the churches she belonged to: Memphis and Providence A.R.P. Churches, and Brandon Presbyterian Church. She could play the piano by ear well into her later years at Peachtree Village Retirement Center.

Family will gather for a graveside service on Sunday, August 2 at 3:00 p.m. at the New Albany City Cemetery. A memorial service will be held in her honor at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, August 8, 2015 at Brandon Presbyterian Church, preceded by visitation from 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Memorials can be made to the Brandon Presbyterian Church Music Fund, 209 South College St., Brandon, MS 39232, www.brandonpres.com.