Bess Marie Varnado

Bess Marie Colmery Varnado, 83 died Saturday September 4. 2010 at Miss. Baptist Medical Center, Jackson, MS. Funeral services will be held 2:00pm Wednesday from the Chapel of Wright & Ferguson Funeral Home High Street. Visitation will be Tuesday from 5:00pm till 7:00pm and Wednesday from 1:00pm till 2:00pm at the funeral home. Burial will be in Lakewood Memorial Park.

She was born in Greenwood, MS on August 5, 1927, the only child of her parents, the late James E. and Ethel Marie Jones Colmery. Although she lived most of her life in Jackson, the family moved to Meridian, MS, shortly before WW II, where she graduated from Meridian High School and Meridian Junior College. She was employed in the USF&G state office at F.W. Williams Insurance Agency for some years, then transferred to the company’s Jackson office.

She married Harrell D. Varnado of Osyka, MS in 1959 and they were the parents of two daughters, Suzanne and Linda. She enjoyed a second career at the Jackson VA Medical Center, serving the last 20 years as the secretary in the Voluntary Service.

Since her retirement, Mrs. Varnado has been active as a family genealogist, assisting her husband in the Varnado Reunions and then initiating a series of reunions among her Colmery relatives. She was the author of the book Colmery Cousins and their Ancestors, published in 1993 and updated in 1996, and has remained active in the Colmery Cousins organization.

She was a lifelong member of First Christian Church in Jackson and Meridian, MS and was an active member of the National Association of Retired Federal Employees.

Mrs. Varnado was predeceased by her daughter Suzanne in 1977 and by her husband in 1994. She is survived by her daughter Linda Varnado Baldwin and husband Chris, of Brandon, MS

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.