Menu
Obituaries for July 22
Ronnie Campbell, 84, of Dyersburg, died Thursday, July 20, 2023 at Ripley Health Care. Born June 14, 1939, he is the son of the late Isaac Floyd and Margaret Olive Reno Campbell. He is retired as an Equipment Operator and mechanic from the Dyer County Highway Department. Ronnie was an avid outdoorsman and loved deer hunting, but most of all, he cherished his family.
Funeral services will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, July 23, 2023 in the Chapel of Curry Funeral Home officiated by Reverend Bill Phipps with interment to follow in New Haven Cemetery.
The family will receive friends Sunday beginning at 12:00 noon until service time at the funeral home.
Lane Campbell, Brandon Adams, Jacob Adams, Scotty Childress, Seth Campbell, Ronnie Doss and Mike Evans will be serving as pallbearers. Honorary pallbearers Jack Boone, Gerald Canada, Butch Canada, Alan Dunivant, James Irby, Jerry Sanders, Bobby Vaughn, Pete Welch and Jeff Jones.
He is survived by his son, Kevin Lynn Campbell (Laurel) of Ripley; one sister, Judy Campbell of Dyersburg; two brothers, Johnnie Campbell (Dot) of Dyersburg; Jimmy Campbell of Snow Lake Shores, MS; seven grandchildren, Seth Campbell (Heather), Lane Campbell, Rachael Clark (Chad), Rebekah Ewald (Matt), Jacob Campbell (Courtney), Brandon Adams (Alanda), Jacob Adams (Brandi) and fifteen great-grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Mildred Louise Leary Campbell; his son, Timothy Glenn Campbell and his wife, Liz; his sister, JoAnne McClure; and two brothers, Isaac Floyd Campbell, Jr., and James Damon Campbell.
Funeral services are under the direction of Curry Funeral Home. We are privileged and honored to serve the Campbell family. You may share your condolences and your memories with the family at www.curryfuneral.com.
Mary Jo Spence Knight Roberts, beloved and devoted mother, passed away in the early morning hours of July 15, 2023 at Methodist Hospital in Houston, Texas. Mary Jo Spence was born on January 27, 1952 at Baird Brewer Hospital in Dyersburg, Tennessee to the late Alma Joy Rich of Savannah, Georgia and the late Isaac Lawson Spence, Jr. of Dyersburg.
Raised in Dyersburg, Mary Jo was a spirited young girl from an early age who exhibited love for the arts. Her father, Lawson, was Southern representative for Metro Associated Services of New York City and would travel across the South for weeks at a time selling service mats for advertising to the local newspapers of every town. Her mother, Joy, graduated from the Julia Richman School of New York City and was a housewife. Mary Jo enjoyed playing with her spaniel Snowball, collecting Madame Alexander dolls, going with her mom to hear the symphony in Memphis and spending time with her dad on the family farm in Frog Jump, Tennessee, “the cotton capital of the world.”
People remember her for her bright smile—a smile that showed through her eyes—her sweetness and her cheerfulness. When friends would come to visit the house, they would find Mary Jo with orange juice cans in her hair, an innovative technique she used to achieve the perfect curl. She was easy, kind, beautiful and a whole lot of fun. Once when her cousin Elizabeth Ann Horner was babysitting the girls, Mary Jo, Zaidee Lynn Ozment, Rita Freeman and Beth Callahan hid in the trunk of Mary Jo’s father’s Buick so that the girls could get into the drive-in movie theater without paying.
In the 1960’s, Elvis was to be seen about Memphis. In junior high, Mary Jo and a girlfriend were visiting her big sister Sally, who lived next to Elvis’ home, Graceland. One night the girls decided to sneak into Graceland to try and meet him. They waited until early morning and then, still in their pajamas, scaled the stonewall that abuts the north of Graceland. They walked up to the house, found the side door leading to the Jungle Room to be open and walked in. They showed themselves all around but didn’t dare go upstairs, instead carving their names in a wooden piece of Elvis’s furniture. Eventually, the security guard, who was none other than Elvis’ uncle, came and got the girls and sent them home.
As a teenager, Mary Jo and her little sister Lucinda would spend summers in Los Angeles, California with their uncles Claude and Jack, who prospered in the entertainment industry. Uncle Jack would take her to the horsetrack where they would meet the movie stars of the day, including John Wayne, Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, to name a few. On one such visit, Mary Jo was taken to the set of the filming of “Camelot” and introduced to Fred Astaire. A picture was taken and appeared in the newspaper with the caption: “When Mary Jo Spence of Dyersburg spent her summer vacation on the west coast, she visited the studios of Warner Brothers in Burbank, California and enjoyed a thrilling on the set visit with the greatest dancer in cinema history Fred Astaire. Fred is currently filming the multi-million dollar film musical, “Finian’s Rainbow”, and was delighted to make the acquaintance of such a lovely southern Belle.” Astaire later wrote her a letter in college, which she lost.
Mary Jo attended St. Mary’s Episcopal School for Girls in Memphis where she sang in the choir and served as chapel acolyte. She graduated from Dyersburg High School, where she was a class officer and a cheerleader. Her high school song was “Windy” by The Association. She was chosen as one of two Outstanding Seniors for the Month of May. The article in the school paper read: “This month DHS salutes Beverly Bonds and Mary Jo Spence, two outstanding and prominent seniors, who have been chosen for Seniors of the Month of May. They display leadership qualities in numerous clubs and are respected as reliable and honest. Mary Jo was an enthusiastic member of the cheerleading squad. Her clubs include the Drama Club, Pep Club, French Club, and FTA. She was sergeant-at-arms of the Beta Club. She goes about everything she does with imagination and creativity, which led to her being chosen Most Original Girl of the Senior Class. When she is not engaged in school activities, Mary Jo enjoys sports such as swimming and riding horses. She hopes to attend Ole Miss this fall and to major in drama.”
Mary Jo matriculated at Ole Miss, where she met her husband, David Knight, was a member of the Phi Mu sorority and loved Ole Miss football. She was well-liked and the life of every party, of which there were many at Old Miss. After marrying David, they moved to Houston in 1973, where her husband pursued a law career and her three sons were born.
David and Mary Jo separated in 1983 and from then she raised her three sons by herself in the Southgate section of Houston near Rice University. She was a homemaker, a diligent needlepointer and a member of the Southgate Garden Club. The boys had a treehouse in the backyard from which many plots and schemes were hatched and soon abandoned. Mary Jo volunteered to teach art history at West University Elementary, where she exposed the young students to such artists as Rembrandt, Matisse, Van Gogh and Toulouse Lautrec. She was a great lover of dogs, of which the family had many—Sam, Rebel, Beau, Jeb, Dixie, Eloise, Gus, Jack, Belle, Rhett Butler, Minnie Pearl, Marty, Pete, Claude, Louie, Thumper and Mammie Jane—over the years.
In 1996 she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and underwent chemotherapy and an oophorectomy. A vital woman and force of nature, she survived.
In 1998 she found love again and married to Michael Roberts. Michael and Mary Jo had wonderful years together and shared the same curiosity to explore and traveled the world until his untimely death in 2005.
Mary Jo worked for many years as a saleswoman for Ralph Lauren, where she was known for her engaging personality, cheerfulness and wit. She could and did strike up a conversation with anyone and made them feel like they were the center of the world. She would deploy her honey-tongued southern charm and a gentle avalanche of compliments to great strategic effect. She was an avid reader, a Spence family trait, and seemed to know everything about everything. She would often impress people with the scope and breadth of her knowledge. She was number one salesman at Ralph Lauren for many years, achieved the status of Executive Sales Professional and was a Ralph Lauren Legacy Award Honoree for 2020.
In 2014 Mary Jo contracted West Nile Virus while cleaning near the pool in the backyard. The virus induced meningoencephalitis and Mary Jo was intubated in the Methodist Hospital Intensive Care Unit for three weeks with little hope of survival. By a miracle of incredible human will and life force, she survived but severely weakened. She suffered significant health complications in the subsequent years, tolerating many painful events with courage and grit, never complaining, always cheerful with a bright smile on her face.
Mary Jo was one of the last of a breed of southern women who lived with charm, manners and a deep and abiding respect for her heritage. She was a magnetic person, gentle, selfless, kind, loved animals, a true southern belle and a devoted mother. She will be missed by her friends and family in a way that no human words can possibly ever convey.
Mary Jo was a great grandniece of Gov. Nat E. Harris of Georgia, founder and first president of the Georgia Institute of Technology, and great great grandniece of Govs. Bob and Alf Taylor of Tennessee. She is survived by sons Tucker (Allison), Nathan Forrest and Patrick Wade, as well as grandchildren Lawson, Tucker and Lillie Knight, all of Houston. She is also survived by her sister Lucinda Mason of Birmingham, AL, sister Sally Ray of Memphis, TN and brother Lawson Spence of Atlanta, GA and many nieces and nephews. Funeral services will be held on Wednesday, July 26th at 2:00 p.m. at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church. She will be cremated and buried in Marcella, AR.
Mary Lou Autry was born September 17, 1933, at Burnt Mill Ferry in the old boarding house of Fay & Hunter’s Mill. She lived by the Obion River until she was about five years old, then her small family pulled up stakes and moved to a short lane called Knapp in the Peony Ridge neighborhood. At that Time, Knapp was still a country route paved only with gravel and no street lights in sight. It was a world filled with pastures, flowers, and lightning bugs. Her parents and uncles built a new home with the assistance of one professional carpenter helping with the details. Her mother, who wore jeans before they were fashionable with women, did the electrical work, while her father and uncles worked with hammers and saws. Both her father, “Tom” Autry, and her mother, “Dot”, were already employed at the cotton mill when they married, so their move was one step closer to work. The new community on the outskirts of town was quickly filling up with relatives of her father, but soon “Dot’s” mother, stepfather and niece Ruth also began building a house on part of the land the family had acquired. It was more like a small farm or commune, than what you see now in a typical city neighborhood. A few years later the family would be complete with the birth of Cheryl the couple’s second and youngest daughter.
As a teenager, Mary worked part-time at the old library on Masonic Street and for a while at the Ritz movie theater downtown. Her father would loan her his old black sedan when she went to school so she could pick-up groceries in the afternoon, but her friend Joyce and cousin Monet would sometimes join her in skipping class and end up taking the smoking sedan to Betties Snack Bar on Court Street. While stopping by one day she spied a young insurance salesman, just back from the Korean War. He was driving a new car and had a new suit, bought with the money he did not have the opportunity to spend while he was overseas. She was young and painfully shy, but Dad said she caught his attention by the way she would linger at the jukebox with her hand on one hip. Dad had never made a commitment to any one woman. In Japan the girls called him “Butterfly Boy” because he flitted from girl to girl, but somehow this green-eyed teenager was different. Dad said that he decided to marry her the first time he spotted her.
Mom soon made a point of driving slowly by the café on a regular basis to see if she could spot dad, then finally they found each other sitting alone at opposite ends of the snack bar. The girl working that day could see what was going on and kept moving mom’s cup of coffee down the counter next to dad’s. Mom would dutifully push it back until she finally gave up her mock resistance and finally sat in the seat next to his. A month later they were married. At first, the young couple lived in a small cottage on a narrow thoroughfare just off Gordon Street which they dubbed “Willoughby Alley''. After raising four children and getting them all in school, she went back to work. First she worked at Kent’s Dollar Store, then became supervisor of three stores for the P&H Company. After P&H closed, she owned and operated her own store, Lou’s TopShop. After her business ended, she went to work for Salenfriend’s Shoe Store and finally retired while working at K-Mart.
Both mom and dad would forsake all worldly goods to make life better for their children. While raising a family they never ate out, or rarely bought new clothes for themselves, but mom always made sure her kids had the best clothes she could find, a fact that was often commented on by our teachers. She not only worked in business, but cooked memorable meals on a shoestring budget, got us ready for school every day, and managed the house, but also found time to be Den Mother and Chauffer to her squad of kids.
After going to work as a young mother, she quickly lost her shyness and from that point on she would never meet a stranger. Always quick with a smile, our mother was one of the kindest people I have ever known, and generous to a fault. In later years you would always find her shopping for bargains and in the afternoon she would settle into her recliner with a Dr. Pepper in one hand and surrounded by a pile of books. Her and our father remained married a total of 64 years. Dad playfully called her “Lou Eyes”, but we just called her Momma.
Mom has inspired no great monuments, nor has she slayed mystical dragons, but she was a Christian warrior who led by example every day of here life. Through her selfless devotion she has transcended the traditional status of motherhood onto a level that few women will ever achieve. She leaves behind a large and grieving family unworthy of filling the void she has left in this troubled world. We are now a rudderless ship adrift in her wake. May God keep our moral compass close to his heart as we have to ours.
The family will receive visitors on Saturday, July 22, 2023 from 6 until 8 p.m. and on Sunday, July 23, 2023 from 12 until 1, all at Dyersburg Funeral Home. Graveside services will be held at 1:30 p.m. at Dyer County Memorial Gardens conducted by Bro. Jeremy Ballinger.
Survivors include her four children, Earl L. Willoughby Jr. of Dyersburg, TN, Vicki Lou Willoughby Fowlkes (Al) of Huntsville, AL, Thomas Daniel Willoughby (Deborah) of Knoxville, TN and Charles Vincent Willoughby of Dyersburg, TN; one sister, Cheryl Autry Johnson of Dyersburg, TN; six grandchildren, Dustin Harris White, Lesley Marie White Webb (Dave), Sarah Katherine Fowlkes Lewis (David), Colt Anthony Vincent Willoughby (Courtney) and Marie Lardino; and five great grandchildren, Elizabeth White, Silas Micheal Burks, Ryce Katherine Lewis, Palmer Kate Lewis, and Chase Willoughby.
In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband of 66 years, Earl L. Willoughby Sr. Honoring Mary Lou as pallbearers will be Bobby Ray, Colt A. V. Willoughby, Tim Bivens, Terry Morgan, Wyatt Wimberley and Dylan McNutt. Honorary pallbearers will be Jackie W. Keeling, Robert Chapman, Jack Hart and Steve Stewart.
Dyersburg Funeral Home is honored to serve the family of Mary Lou Willoughby. Online condolences can be made to the family at dyersburgfuneralhome.net
Sue Blackwood, 86, of Memphis, TN (formerly of Dyersburg, TN) passed away on Tuesday, July 18, 2023. A memorial service will be held on Saturday, July 22 at 11 a.m. at Grace Community Church on Fite Rd. in Memphis.
Edith Mae Haley, 69, Newbern passed away Friday, July 21, 2023.
Graveside Service will be 2:00 PM Monday, July 24, 2023 at Bellevernon Cemetery.
Visitation will be Monday at the funeral home from 1:00 to 1:45 pm.