Funeral services were held at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, May 13, 2023, at Boone Funeral Home in Greenville for Helen Dubard Williams, 95, of Tupelo, formerly of Greenville, who died peacefully on Sunday, May 7. Burial followed in Greenville Cemetery. Visitation was held one hour prior to service time at the funeral home.
A lifelong Mississippian, Helen was born in 1928, in Dubard, which is outside of Grenada, and after marriage lived 60 years of her life in Greenville. She attended Grenada Public Schools and after graduation attended Millsaps College where she met Bill Williams. Before they married, Helen attended Jackson Commercial College and graduated with a business certificate. In August 1948, Helen and Bill married and made their home in Greenville.
Helen and Bill had four children, Martha, Bill Jr., Marian and Kathy. Despite her growing and active family, Helen always made time for others and was a faithful member of her church, Trinity United Methodist. She was a charter member of the Colonial Garden Club, a Sunday school teacher, a member of the Administrative Board of Trinity and was past president of the United Methodist Women. After all the children left home, Helen became a kindergarten music teacher for 10 years, which she loved. She was also a life member of the Greenville Junior Auxiliary as well as an active member of the Terrace Garden Association for 56 years.
Her parents, Lewis Adam and Alma Beck Dubard; her brother, Lewis Dubard; her sisters, Ann Elizabeth Lipscomb, Alma Katherine McEachin and Eunice Marian Hubbard; her husband, William P. “Bill” Williams; a niece, Cynthia Dubard Johnston, and her son-in-law, James P. McCartney, preceded Helen in death.
Survivors include, her children, Martha Williams McCartney of Lawton, Okla., William P. (Sharkey Phillips) Williams Jr. of Leiper’s Fork, Tenn., Marian Williams East of St. Petersburg, Fla., and Kathy Williams (Mike) Ferris of Tupelo; grandchildren, Kimberly McCartney (Dave) Boels of Mesa, Ariz., Kevin McCartney of Lawton, Okla., Erin (Liam Joyce) East of Gulfport, Fla., and Michael (Kinney) Ferris, Emily Ferris and Allison Ferris, all of Oxford; great grandchildren, Ashton Patton and Preston Patton, both of Plano, Texas, Dillan Joyce and Aiden Joyce, both of Gulfport, Fla., and Mary Mac and Tripp Ferris, both of Oxford and numerous nieces and nephews and great nieces and nephews, too numerous to name, whom she loved dearly.
The family is very grateful for the loving care of staff and friendships formed at Traceway Retirement System in Tupelo and Generations Senior Living in Saltillo.
Boone Funeral Home in Greenville was in charge of arrangements.
