Funeral services for Jerry Edward Pettus, 88, of Anniston, Alabama, will be July 16th, 2025 at 2:00 PM at Chapel Hill Funeral Home in Saks with Pastor Daniel Harper officiating. The burial will be at Anniston Memorial Gardens. The family will have visitation one hour prior to service time
Mr. Pettus passed away on July 12, 2025, at NHC Healthcare Anniston. He is survived by his brother, Blake Pettus (Clarice), niece, Kim Hurst (Tim), and several nieces and nephews.
Mr. Pettus is preceded in death by his parents, Thomas Howard Pettus and Hanl Pettus, his first wife of 52 years, Mary Mickles Pettus, his second wife, Merylene Ford Pettus, and his brothers, Kenneth Pettus and Scott Pettus. The pallbearers will be Tim Hurst, Kyle Hurst, Joe Tremble, and & friends of Jerry.
Mr. Pettus attended Mechanicsville Elementary School in West Anniston. He graduated in 1955 from Oxford High School and received an academic scholarship from The Anniston Star newspaper to attend Jacksonville State College, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics. Mr. Pettus also earned two master’s degrees in mathematics from the University of Alabama and Purdue University in Indiana.
Mr. Pettus began his professional career in 1961 as a math teacher at Walter H. Wellborn High School in Anniston, where he taught 12th grade and college preparatory subjects for six years. In 1968, Mr. Pettus and his wife, Mary, also a Wellborn High School 7th and 8th grade math teacher, accepted teaching positions at Bartow High School in Bartow, Florida, where they taught math for 30 years. In 1999, they each retired from teaching. In addition to dedicating his life to teaching, Mr. Pettus served eight years in the Alabama National Guard.
About 1943, when Mr. Pettus was a six-year-old boy attending West Anniston Baptist Church, he began what became a lifelong passion for, and study of, gospel music and church hymnals. At age nine, he learned to play the piano, Throughout his life he strived to become a better singer to show respect for his love of church music. Mr. Pettus spent many hours reading and understanding the spiritual meaning of the words and beauty of the music. As a result, he memorized the words and music to more than 160 hymnals. He loved singing in church, and as a member of the Jacksonville State University Men’s Choir.
Mr. Pettus was a devoted Christian, husband, son and brother, and man of unimpeachable character. He lived his life with humility, honor, and selfless service to others, and treated everyone with dignity, respect. and kindness.
The family of Jerry Pettus wants to thank the directors, management, and staff at McClellan Senior Living - Assisted Living in Anniston, NHC Healthcare Anniston and hospice nurses at Enhabit Hospice for the compassion, care, and dignity shown to Jerry and his family.
