Doris Jean McFerrin

Doris was born on August 28, 1935 near Finger, Tennessee. She will join in heaven her husband, William; her parents, Jewel and Lafayette “Fate” Carter; and five of her beloved brothers and sisters: Winston, Janette, Mary Helen, Bobby, and Rhett. She is survived by her two children, Renee (Chris) Jones and Clark (Cynthia) McFerrin; her four grandchildren: Jordan Brooks, Julianne Brooks Silvestri, Carter McFerrin, and Lauren Kerstell; great grandson, Will Kerstell and her youngest sister, Nancy Hollowell.

A lifelong Southerner, Doris and her siblings grew up in rural Dyer County, Tennessee. She passed onto her children and grandchildren many stories of growing up in a different time: born to sharecropper parents, she and her six siblings spent their mornings at school and afternoons on the cotton patch. They grew all of their own food and raised their own chickens. Once a week, as a treat, they rode a tractor to the local country store for a soda.

In 1954, after she graduated high school, she and her family moved to a new farm off of Highway 72 in Mount Pleasant, Mississippi. It was there that she met a boy around her age, William McFerrin, who lived on his parents’ farm up the road. In 1957, Doris and William married and began a life together with 65 years of marriage, two children, and four grandchildren.

Doris was a caring woman, the matriarch of her family, and an enthusiastic participant in the lives of her children and grandchildren, the latter to whom she was known as Mimi. She enjoyed the little things in life: people-watching, decaf coffee, and country music. Her sharp wit and infectious laughter brought warmth and joy to all those around her; to know Doris was to love her.

Visitation will be held on Tuesday, May 12, at the Collierville Funeral Home, from 5:30-7:30PM. A memorial service will occur at noon the following day, Wednesday, May 13, at the Alice Cartwright Chapel of Magnolia Cemetery, also in Collierville, where she will join her husband in rest. Your thoughts and prayers are kind and appreciated.