Patsy was born June 30th in the east Tennessee city of Oak Ridge. Her parents, Thomas and Virgie Fortner, gave her the middle name of June due to her birthday being the last eligible day of the child tax exemption of 1951. She was the youngest of seven siblings and the baby of the three sisters. She spent summer days walking to the Oak Ridge pool where she began her lifelong love of swimming and diving. She would later teach her children’s friends and the neighborhood kids how to dive from her much loved pool at her house in Pearl, MS. She raised her two children, Kim and Eddie, in the city of Pearl where she continued to live for almost fifty years. Patsy accumulated scores of friends due to her exuberant love of community and gift of hospitality. She was loved by her bunko groups, her beach bunny friends, her garden club, her neighbors, her First Baptist Church choir friends, and most by her family.
She loved to cook and have people enjoy it around her perfectly decorated table. Her cornbread, gumbo, and peach cobbler always drew a crowd. Christmas was her favorite holiday and she spent the entire year choosing just the right gifts for all those she loved.
She is preceded in death by her parents and brothers, Nathan Fortner, Harrell Fortner, and twin brothers Kenneth and Kenis Fortner.
She is survived by her husband, Joe; her daughter, Kim Dyess (Todd) of Brandon; her son, Eddie Poe (Leslie) of Pearl; her step-son, Trey Warrington (Stephanie) of Columbus; her sisters Juanita Wilburn of Edgewater, Maryland and Betty Turbyfill of Lexington, Kentucky. Her aunt, Virginia Harper Griffith, of Oliver Springs, Tennessee also survives her. She was also dearly loved by her many nieces and nephews and her extended Warrington family.
Mimi’s love of life and family will be remembered by her beloved grandchildren Tyler Poe (Danielle), Bailey Hart( Kelcey), Hartley Poe, Maddie Dyess, Emma Dyess, Julia Dyess, and Seth Dyess.
She had just welcomed her first great grandchild, Walker Poe, to the world.
She was always cheering on her grandchildren from the sidelines of all their sporting events and will continue to cheer them on in life from her chair back in heaven.
Celebration of Life Services were held on April 27, 2023, at Baldwin-Lee Funeral Home in Pearl.
