Willie Belle Phillips Hood passed from this earth into heaven on Saturday evening, May 4, at St. Dominic Hospital in Jackson, MS, with her loving sons Danny and Lee at her bedside. She was 93. Funeral services will be Wednesday, May 8, at 11:00 a.m. at Stricklin King Funeral Home Chapel in Yazoo City, MS. Visitation will be at 10:00 a.m., immediately before the service. Interment will be at Glenwood Cemetery in Yazoo City immediately following the funeral. Dr. Doug Broome, pastor of First Baptist Church Natchez, will officiate the service.
Willie Belle was born in Sunflower, MS on September 3, 1930, to Mary Adella Grantham and William Andrew Phillips. She grew up in the Mississippi Delta in Anguilla, Indianola, Louise and Humphreys County. She was the third of ten children and was always the family’s nurturing sibling her entire life.
Willie Belle graduated from Louise High School in 1948. Her classmates elected her Miss Louise High School and Most Beautiful. She also was a member of the girls’ basketball team.
After graduation, she moved to Yazoo City and worked for Yazoo Valley Electric Power Association and then Southern Bell Telephone Company as a switchboard operator.
During her very early years in Yazoo, she and a girlfriend stopped at the Rose Oil Service Station at the bottom of the hill on West Broadway Street for gas. A handsome young man just back from serving in the Marines in World War II pumped gas into the car, washed the car windows and chatted with the girls. His name was Lawrence Hood and he went home that night and told his mother that he had met the girl he was going to marry. They did marry at First Methodist Church in Louise and welcomed their first child Lawrence Daniel the following year. Their second son Steven Lee came much later in life when she was 37. She doted on her boys and was a loving Christian hands-on mother. The boys grew up in church at First Baptist in Yazoo City where Willie Belle was a Sunday School teacher for many many years. Willie Belle and Lawrence shared life together until his death in 1994.
Willie Belle worked side-by-side with Lawrence at the Rose Oil where they met for more than three decades, and then they opened Hood’s Chevron Service Station on Lintonia Avenue for another few years.
Her final employment came at the Yazoo County Courthouse where she worked for the Yazoo County Sheriff’s Office as Deputy Clerk for more than a decade with four different sheriffs.
An extremely talented seamstress, Willie Belle was in much demand for her embroidery skills on home linens and clothing items, and she made many cheerleader uniforms. She hand made her pale blue silk sequined tulle formal evening gown for Lawrence’s and her attendance at Paul B. Johnson’s Inaugural Governor’s Ball.
Willie Belle was very active in the Yazoo City chapter of the Eastern Star, joining the Order in 1958, and soon after held the highest elected position of Worthy Matron. Earlier this year, she received her 65-year service pin from the Order and special recognition for her dedicated service.
Her retirement years found her in her kitchen cooking or at her sewing machine or in her garden planting roses or amaryllis or irises with beloved family members.
Willie Belle is preceded in death by her husband, her parents, sisters Gladys Mae Phillips Ross, Mary Alice Phillips Daniels, Mattie Maude Phillips, Ollie Ruth Phillips Barrett, Annette Phillips West, Martha Raye Phillips Ferrell; and brother Paul “Buddy” Eugene Phillips. She is survived by her sons Lawrence Daniel (Melinda) Hood of Yazoo City, MS, and Steven Lee (Lori) Hood of Yazoo City, MS; sisters Jo Anne Phillips Sims of Hernando, MS, Joyce Phillips Rogers of Hartselle, AL; and numerous beloved nieces and nephews.
Pall bearers are beloved members of Willie Belle’s family: Zack Killebrew of Bee Lake, MS, Joey Sims of Hernando, MS, Gerry Helferich of Jackson, MS, Jeff James of Brandon, MS, John Herman of Flowood, MS, and Eddie Bunkley of Pearl, MS.
