Louise Harris Southerland

Louise Harris Wilson Southerland, who died on September 30, 2014, was born on July 25, 1912 in Jackson, Mississippi to Garrard Harris and Mary Lou Sykes Harris. The family moved to Birmingham in 1920, when her father became the Associate Editor of the Birmingham News. She was educated in Birmingham public schools and attended Howard College, now Samford University. For several years she worked at the law firm of Martin, Turner, and McWhorter. In 1939 she married Jack Roper Wilson, who died in 1951. In 1955 she married Henry DeLeon Southerland, Jr., who died in 2009. She was also predeceased by her siblings, Frances Harris Baker, Frank Sykes Harris, and Garrard Harris, Jr.

The oldest living member of St. Mary’s-on-the-Highlands Episcopal Church, she had also been one of the founding members of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church. An avid genealogist, she was a member of John Parke Custis Chapter, DAR, the Jamestowne Society, First Families of Virginia, the Society of Boonesboro, the Huguenot Society of South Carolina, and the Birmingham Historical Society. She was also a member of the Birmingham Country Club and Country Club Gardeners.

Mrs. Southerland is survived by her daughter, Carolyn Wilson Long (Thad), of Birmingham, her stepdaughter, Mary Neill Southerland, of Chattanooga, her grandchildren, Louisa Long Stockman (Norman) of Mobile and Wilson A. Long (Elizabeth) of Birmingham, as well as four great-grandchildren: Kacie Grace Long, of Dennis, Mississippi, Anne Frances Stockman, Katherine Rose Stockman, and William Henry Stockman, all of Mobile, and several nieces and nephews.

The family would like to thank her devoted caregivers: Sharon Carter, Delores Dudley, Veria Johnson, Christine Talley, and especially Lena Jemison and Emma Moultrie. In lieu of flowers, memorials to St. Mary’s or a favorite charity are suggested. After private family burial, a memorial service will be held at St. Mary’s, 1910 12th Avenue, South on Saturday, October 4 at 11:00 o’clock.

Arrangements under the direction of Ridout's Valley Chapel, Homewood, AL.