Jean Stegall Jolly

Jean Stegall Jolly passed peacefully into heaven on Friday, May 3, 2019 at Inspira Medical Center in Vineland. She was 85.

Daughter of the late Columbus Ware and Blanche Roye Stegall, Jean was born in Pontotoc, MS, on October 1, 1933. She had the happiest of childhoods growing up with her sisters and many close cousins in Pontotoc county; roaming the woods, fishing with home-made poles and getting into all kinds of scrapes that made for good story-telling for years to come. In 1956, she met and married the love of her life, Bobby Donald Jolly, and together they raised two daughters in several different locations throughout Mississippi; each one a new adventure and a new opportunity for her to make lifelong friends.

When Jean was 35, she enrolled in Mississippi State University’s elementary education program. With young children at home, she took the heaviest load of classes possible so she could finish in three years, which she did—summa cum laude. It was during that time that she also saw her elder daughter through extensive spinal surgery and weeks of hospitalization, working on term papers at the library closest to Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital in Memphis.

In 1971, Jean began a teaching career that spanned almost three decades and impacted hundreds of children in Natchez, Louisville and finally Okolona, MS. As a teacher she was beloved, and she often heard from former students for the rest of her life. In 1981, she endured the tragic loss of her daughter Karen; a loss made bearable only by her simple and abiding faith in Christ. It was during this season of grief that she and Bobby resettled in their native north Mississippi where they could be close to their loving family. They lived the majority of this time in Amory, where the church family at East Amory Baptist Church became a vital part of their lives.

Jean had a rare talent in drawing and painting. She was also an expert seamstress, a skilled gardener and an amazing cook. She loved showing hospitality, opening her home and setting an extra place at the table at a moment’s notice. She also loved to write—and spent a great deal of time in her retirement years recording her childhood memories, keeping journals of her travels with Bobby, writing letters and putting together little books to be read to her grandchildren.

Weakened by a stroke, she came to live permanently with her daughter’s family in Bridgeton following Bobby’s death in 2014. Since that time, she has become an integral part of New Hope Presbyterian Church, where her loss will be felt keenly.

Jean is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Tracey (Jolly) and Claude Taylor; two grandchildren, Mary and Jasper Taylor; two sisters and their husbands, Nettie (Stegall)and Johnny Favara and Jamye (Stegall) and Ron Moshier; two sisters-in-law, Fay (Jolly) Wiley and Carolyn (Williams) Jolly and a number of nieces and nephews that she held very close to her heart.

The New Jersey service will be on Thursday morning May 9th, at 11 o’clock at the New Hope Presbyterian Church, 65 Hitchner Avenue in Bridgeton where friends will be received from 9 until 11. A luncheon for family and friends will follow in the church fellowship hall.

The Mississippi service will be on Saturday, May 25, 2019 at 12:00 pm. Funeral Services will be held at the East Amory Baptist Church. She will lie in state at the church from 11:00 AM- 12:00 PM. Interment will follow in Lee Memorial Cemetery. Visitation for family and friends will be held on Friday, May 24, 2019 from 5 - 8 pm at the funeral home in Amory.

Please share your memories and condolences with her family at eepicklefuneralhome.com