On Thursday, September 24, 2026, Reverend Wanda Lou Knighton-Bales, of Columbia, Mississippi, passed from this life into God's presence at the age of 66. She was born in Kosciusko, Mississippi to B.C. and Vergie Knighton. Lou learned the value of hard work at an early age and started her first job at the Strand Theater in Kosciusko at the age of twelve. Working in the campus bookstore provided resources for her to obtain her Bachelor's Degree in Religion from Millsaps College. Lou worked for twelve years as an assistant teacher in the Kosciusko School System while pastoring churches as a local pastor. Feeling the call of God on her heart to take her calling further, she began pursuing her Master's in Theology from Memphis Theological Seminary and was ordained in 1998. She served as a minister in the Methodist Church for a total of 23 years. For the next 18 years, Lou ministered outside of the church in her position as a dispatcher with the Forrest General Hospital Police Department. She was currently working with Hattiesburg Clinic.
Lou will be remembered for her wit and determination. She also loved to sing. She shared her talent in musicals, sang in the Millsaps singers, and sang in many weddings, revivals and other events from the time she was a teenager. Lou spent her life trying to fulfill her purpose and her calling. She had a long list of people that she prayed for nightly and she gave away more Bibles in her lifetime than could be counted. There are many who are a recipient of the cards of encouragement that she sent out weekly because she loved and cared deeply for people. However, there was none more so than her love for her granddaughter, Butterbean.
She was preceded in death by her mother, Vergie Dendy Cockroft; her father, B.C. Knighton; her sisters, Sue Ables, Robin Evans, Rhonda Hubbard, Ruth Green, and Debbie Evans; her brothers, Sam Knighton and Andrew Knighton; a maternal grandmother, Lucy Dendy; uncle and aunt, W.G. and Arvie Milner; and cherished nephew, Matthew Alber. Lou is survived by her beloved husband of 34 years, John Bales; a daughter, Kim Tagert (Jason); a granddaughter, Adalyn "Butterbean" Tagert; a beloved nephew, Nathan Alber (Taylor); a brother, Morris Knighton (Teresa); a host of other cherished nieces and nephews; and her step-children, Tina Boswell, Mark Bales, Kim Cox, and Pam Campos.
There will be a visitation for Lou at the Chapel of The Cross on Sunday, September 27, 2026, from 5:00pm until 7:00pm. Reverend Reed Houston will officiate a funeral service to celebrate her life at the church on Monday, September 28, 2026, at 11:00am. She will be laid to rest in the Mount Sinai Church of God Cemetery.
