Mary Dean Dill

Mary Dean Owings Dill, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, wife, aunt, friend and public servant passed away November 12, 2016 peacefully at her home in West Point, Mississippi. She was 100 years old. The celebration of her life will be held at the First United Methodist Church of West Point Tuesday, November 15, 2016 at 2:30 p.m. with the visitation at the church beginning at 1:00 p.m. Burial will follow at Greenwood Cemetery. Mary Dean was born January 5, 1916 in Monroe County, Mississippi to Newton Elmer Owings and Audrey May Lusby Owings. Mary Dean’s mother died when she was five. Her grandmother Sara Frances “Fannie” Allison Lusby of Aberdeen raised Mary Dean and her sister Margaret. On May 25, 1935, she married Ernest Beauregard Dill. They moved West Point, Mississippi where they raised their three sons and she remained throughout her life. Mary Dean started her career at the Magnolia Grocery, before owning and operating Dill’s Grocery for 10 years. She worked in the Clay County Court House for 20 years, first as Deputy Sheriff, in the tax collection office, as Sheriff of Clay County and in the Chancery Clerks Office. In 1975, she was elected Tax Assessor-Collector. She retired from public service in 1984. Mary Dean was an active member of the First United Methodist Church of West Point, the Horseshoe Robertson Chapter of the DAR, West Point Pilot Club, the West Point Garden Club, the West Point Art Club and was an avid Ole Miss Rebel. Mary Dean was preceded in death by her parents, step-mother, husband, five siblings including her sister Margaret Frances Owings Wyatt of Amarillo, Texas; her niece Sara Dean Messer, her daughter-in-law Catherine “Kitty” Bryan Dill, and her son, Dr. Robert “Bobby” Andrew Dill. She is survived by Betty Dill, widow of her son Dr. Andrew Robert “Bobby” Dill of Columbus, MS; son Kenneth “Kenny” Dean Dill (wife Anna) of West Point, Mississippi; son John Reginald “Reggie” Dill (wife Paula) of Germantown, Tennessee; and Ellen Jean Dill, sister-in-law, of West Point, Mississippi; 9 grandchildren John Dill, Mary Margaret Case, Brian Dill, Ken Dill, Sarah Catherine Reily, Caroline Billups, Justin Dill, Paul Dill, Anna Elizabeth Wiygul, 19 great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews from Texas; Billie Jean Chapman, Johnny Wyatt, Tommy Wyatt, Karen McMahon and Ricky Wyatt. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to the First United Methodist Church of West Point, Grady’s Chapel United Methodist Church of Aberdeen or the Friends of the Bryan Public Library.