Graveside services will be held at 11 a.m. on Monday, Jan. 24, 2022, in Woodlawn Memorial Park in Grenada for Mrs. Ruth Hardy Odom, known universally and affectionately as “Cootie,” who died on Friday, Jan. 21, at the age of 102. The Rev. Daniel Herring will officiate.
Cootie was born on Aug. 14, 1919, in Gore Springs, the daughter of Hugh Dixon and Bettie Augusta Lockett Hardy. She worked as an accountant at Pennaco Hosiery for most of her working life. She was a member of First United Methodist Church in Grenada.
Mrs. Odom held the distinction of being the first female in Grenada to obtain a pilot’s license. Cootie will long be remembered for her infectious smile and winning personality – she truly lit up every room she entered. While Cootie had no children of her own, there are many in the community that she loved and treated like they were hers.
Her parents; her husband, Gene Odom; sisters, Emma Grace Hardy Bowen and Margaret Hardy Pittman, and brothers, Richard Noel Hardy, James Dixon Hardy, Thomas Hugh Hardy and Jack Howard Hardy, preceded Cootie in death.
Survivors include, her nieces, Betty Bowen of Portland, Ore., and Julia Ann Bowen Nosser (Dobie) of Vicksburg; nephew, Jeff Busby Bowen of Grenada; great nieces, Lauren Kathleen Martin (John Loyd) of Hattiesburg and Mary Margaret Pittman of Jackson Hole, Wyo., and great nephews, Albert Joseph Nosser of Hattiesburg and Hardy Pittman (Jamie) of Clinton.
Honorary Pallbearers will be Albert “Dobie” Nosser and Albert Joseph Nosser Jr.
Online condolences can be expressed to the family at www.mckibbenandguinn.com
McKibben and Guinn Funeral Service in Grenada is in charge of arrangements.
