Hilda Davis Courtney

Hilda was born April 25, 1943, in Meridian, Mississippi, to Martin M. Davis and Willie Lee “Billie” Davis, the middle of their five children. The family later moved to Jackson, where she attended Forest Hill High School and worked on the school newspaper and yearbook. After two years with National Development and Construction Company, she set out for Pasadena, California, to attend Ambassador College. There she met another Mississippian, Ken Courtney of Bassfield, and on January 25, 1962, they were married by candlelight in the lobby of Ambassador Hall.

After a brief stay in Birmingham, Alabama, where their daughter Kimberly was born, Ken and Hilda came home to Mississippi. In 1965 they started Sun-Pine Corporation on wholesale row in Jackson, a family business that grew from bottles filled by hand to a plant in Canton, and that their sons Mark and Michael would help lead.

Hilda served as the company’s treasurer for many years, and after Ken’s passing she became its president, a title she held for the rest of her life. In 1981 the family settled in Pearl’s Country Place neighborhood, where Hilda made her home for the next 45 years.

Faith was the center of Hilda’s life. For more than five decades she and Ken shared a searching, devoted faith that began in their Pasadena days, and she held to it through every joy and every loss.

Hilda knew deep sorrow, outliving her husband of 55 years and two of her three children, yet she met it with grace. To her five grandchildren she was simply Grandmama. Her children and grandchildren were her greatest joy and the center of her world. The love she poured into them is the legacy she leaves behind.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Kenneth “Ken” Courtney; her daughter, Kimberly Joy Courtney Michel; her son, Kenneth “Mark” Courtney; her parents, Martin M. Davis Sr. and Willie Lee “Billie” Davis; her sister, Wanda Davis Brieger; her brother, Larry Davis; her nephews, Keith Alexander and Randy Brieger; and her niece, LaCreta Rapotec.

She is survived by her son, Michael Courtney (Amy) of Jackson; her daughter-in-law, Melinda Rayner Courtney of Brandon; her grandchildren, Zachary Allen Courtney, Leigh Ashley Courtney, Cassidy Lee Michel, Daniel Clayton Courtney and Caroline Michael Courtney; her sister, Nelda Humphries (Ed) of Columbus; her brother, Martin Davis Jr. (Sara) of Brandon; her sister-in-law, Renae Davis of Brandon; her nieces and nephews, Shannon Gustafson (Ryan) of Austin, TX, Tanya Brieger of Ridgeland, Kevin Alexander and Craig Alexander, both of Brandon, Debra Pierce (Michael) of Hattiesburg and David Baughman (Laurie) of Gulfport; and many other nieces, nephews, cousins and friends.

The family is deeply grateful to the caregivers who loved and looked after Hilda in her final years: Dorothy Dykes, Ms. Annie, Teresa Cox, Britany Marshall, Minnie Lockwood, Elouise Nelson and Sheila Gilbert. A special thank you to Baptist Hospice for the loving care they gave Hilda, and especially to Kathy, Heather and Brother Johnny.

Visitation will be held Wednesday, November 11, 2026, from 10 to 11 a.m. at Parkway Funeral Home, 1161 Highland Colony Parkway, Ridgeland, followed by a graveside service at 11 a.m. at Parkway

Memorial Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made in support of Baptist Hospice through Baptist Health Foundation at baptisthealth.foundation/donate.

Arrangements are under the direction of Parkway Funeral Home, Ridgeland.