Dee Hannah Maxson

What should we call her? Mrs. Charles T. Maxson or Mamie Dee Hannah Maxson or simply “Aunt Dee” as she was known by family, friends, church youth, co-workers, and caretakers for 100 years. Aunt Dee has gone home. Sunday morning, September 2nd, Aunt Dee decided she wanted to take a nap before she ate breakfast. She woke from that nap in the presence of her Heavenly Father.

Born on December 11, 1917, she was the third child of Ralph Erskine Hannah, Jr. and Ada Dovie Estelle Berry, small homestead farmers near Sturgis, MS. Four more children would bless this home and grow up under the influences of the love of Jesus and His Word, great respect for education, and confidence in a strong work ethic as a way to provide for one’s family and be a blessing to others. Around the completion of High School, Dee took a summer job in West Point, MS. She met and married Charles Thomas Maxson in 1937. They lived in West Point until the eve of WWII, when Charles enlisted in the Navy gradually rising in rank until he was Boatswain aboard a cargo ship. Being realistic about the possibility of Charles never returning, Aunt Dee enrolled in secretarial training at Hillman College. She continued to take classes and became a matron around the time of the merger of Hillman with Mississippi College. In 1943, she took a job with Beech Stand High School in Wilkinson, MS teaching bookkeeping, shorthand and typing. After Charles’ ship had shifted from the Atlantic to the Pacific, he sent word to Dee that it was coming to San Francisco/Oakland for refitting and repairs. She hurried to Oakland, found a room they could rent and clerk typist work with the Army Air Force Pacific Overseas Air Technical Service Command, which evolved into the Strategic Air Command. With the end of the war, Dee returned to Mississippi. When she was joined by Charles, they moved to south Florida where he had family. In 1950, Aunt Dee began working for the Department of Agriculture Sugarcane Breeding Station, and retired in 1977. Charles retired in 1980 as Public Works Superintendent for the Road Department of Palm Beach County, Florida.

Dee and Charles were mainstays in their communities and churches. For many years, their focus was discipling the children and youth. Dee taught Sunday School and was a leader in Women’s Missionary Union, developing friendships with scores of active missionaries. Always a talented seamstress, Dee’s interest in all forms of needlecraft grew throughout her long life. In 1989, Charles’ failing health caused them to move back to Mississippi to be near her sister and brother-in-law, Ruth and Leo Berry. They joined and immediately became involved in Alta Woods Baptist Church. More recently, Dee has been a member of Highland Colony Baptist Church. Charles passed away in 2001 after suffering with emphysema and near blindness. Dee became more involved in her church and sewing clubs and having a role in the lives of her growing crop of great nieces and nephews. Dee was able to live independently until 2012, but for the last 6 years she has resided in assisted living at the Blake at Township.

Aunt Dee was preceded in death by her parents, her sisters Lois Hannah and Virginia Hannah McGee, her brothers Harry Hannah and Durrell Hannah, and her much loved husband of 64 years, Charles. She is survived by one sister, Ruth Hannah Berry, and one brother, Willie Erskine Hannah, numerous nieces and nephews, great nieces and great nephews, plus great-greats.

In lieu of flowers, may we ask that you consider a memorial gift to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for World Missions at a Southern Baptist Church.