Mary Ellen Ketchum

Mary Ellen Ketchum died Friday, March 24 at Hospice Ministries in Ridgeland. She was born October 20, 1918, in Marmaduke, AR to James and Vera Hawkins. She attended schools in Marmaduke, Little Rock, and Chicago before returning to graduate from Marmaduke High School. While playing for the Marmaduke High Girls’ basketball team, she was spotted by a handsome young newspaper reporter from Paragould, whom she married in 1937. She and Hugh Wilson Ketchum were married until his death in November, 2006.

Hugh and Mary Ellen lived in El Dorado and Paragould, AR and Clarksdale, MS until settling in Grenada, MS in 1940. There she worked as a quartermaster clerk at Camp McCain while Hugh served in the military. After WW II she served as a dental assistant in Grenada and at Fort Jackson, SC, where Hugh was stationed before going to Korea in 1953. After the Korean War, she devoted her time to rearing two daughters, teaching children’s Sunday school classes, and assuming leadership roles in Girl Scouts and the Junior Auxiliary.

The family moved to Jackson in 1965, where she continued to teach Sunday school and lead her daughters’ Girl Scout troops. She and Hugh enjoyed golfing regularly at Live Oaks Golf Club, the Country Club of Jackson, Colonial Country Club and with the Mississippi Seniors Golf Association.

Mary Ellen served as president of the Jackson Women’s Golf Association in 1986. She was a member of Pear Orchard Presbyterian Church, where she was active in Women in the Church and the Reflectors Sunday school class.

Besides her husband, she was predeceased by her parents, sisters, brother, and a grandson, Stephen Wilson Corkern. She is survived by her daughters, Becky Brown (Tom) of Madison, MS; Kathy Spencer (David) of Southaven; grandchildren, Bryan Corkern (Caley) of Ridgeland, Katie Doremus (Tim) of Wichita, KS; Hayley Brown of Peoria, IL; great-grandchildren, Olivia and Jackson Doremus and Nicholas Wilson Corkern, and her beloved companion and sitter of many years, Helen Halliday.

The family would like to extend their deepest appreciation to the staff at The Orchard in Ridgeland for their excellent and loving care over the past fourteen years, the physicians and nurses on 6A at Mississippi Baptist Medical Center, and to the staff at Hospice Ministries.

A graveside service will be held at Lakewood Memorial Park on Monday, March 27, 2017 at 10:00 AM.

The family suggests that memorials be made to Pear Orchard Presbyterian Church in Ridgeland, MS or to Hospice Ministries in Ridgeland, MS.

Please visit lakewoodfuneralhomes.com for online guestbook.