TUPELO / UNION COMMUNITY – A warm, wonderful lady of grace, dignity and strength departed this life at the ripe old age of 108 on Monday, June 1, 2020 at Tupelo Health and Rehabilitation Center. Lottie Brown Posey was born in the Union Community of Lee County south of Plantersville on December 8, l911 to the late Albert and Maud Smith Brown, area pioneers. She lived many years in the Union Community on the Brown family land before moving to Tupelo in 1946. She married into the venerable Lee County pioneer Posey family, of which all the children were so named after Shakespearian characters. Tulane Elzie Posey, Sr. became her husband on September 17, 1929. He died in 1973. “Miss” Lottie, actually named by birth as Anna Laurie Brown, did not like the kids mimicking her name as she attended the McGaughy School and convinced her parents to just call her Lottie Brown, which they obliged. She grew up farming with the family, tending livestock and fully understanding the value of hard work, enterprise, community and family. She became the alterations lady/seamstress at Black’s Department Store in downtown Tupelo in 1961, a job she held until she retired in 2002 at age 91, walking on foot to the job from West Jackson St. virtually every day. Miss Lottie loved Lee County and was particularly a significant historian with brilliant knowledge of the history of and families in and near the Union Community south of Plantersville. She would tell with fondness and renewed resolve how families struggled in the early 20th century and beyond yet how they bonded together on Sundays amid their struggles at the Union Methodist Church, which alternated services with the Presbyterians, Baptists and other faiths. After relocating to Tupelo, she and Mr. Posey became members of the newly formed Calvary Mission Church, now Calvary Baptist Church. Loving music and being a learned pianist, she was the founding pianist at Calvary. Her faith was always solid and well founded and she worked the nursery at Calvary for several decades. Miss Lottie had many friends and was beloved by her 4 children and their offspring and will be sorely missed but fondly remembered the whole of their lives.
A private family-only celebration of life service will take place at 11 AM on Friday, June 5, 2020 in the Tupelo Chapel with burial to follow at Tupelo Memorial Park. Her nephew, Rev. Bobby Posey, will officiate. There will be a public visitation at the funeral home from 10 AM – service time only. Family and guests are asked to wear masks under the guidelines of the Covid-19 pandemic. Holland Funeral Directors is honored to be serving the Posey family at this time of their matriarch’s home-going.
Miss Lottie was blessed with four children, Judge Tulane E. Posey, Jr. (deceased), Gwendolyn Posey of Ellisville, Ms., Mickey Posey of College Station, Tx., and Carolyn Posey Asters (John Thomas Asters) of Martin, Ga.; daughter-in-law Helen Posey of the Union Community; 9 grandchildren, Terri Berryhill (Gwin), Melony Posey, Lisa Posey Barrett (Ronnie), Lane Posey (Cheryl), Michelle Posey Crookshanks (Gene), Marilyn Posey Burnett (Darryl), Jason Asteros (Marie), Jonica Asteros (Tom), and Blakely Asteros (Tatiana); 20 great-grandchildren, Melissa Berryhill Crawford (Chris), Timothy Berryhill, Emily Crookshanks, Sam Crookshanks, Analise Burnett, Mason Burnett, Bethany Burnett, Amanda Armas (Omar), Brianna Barrett, Jessica Barrett, Emily Barrett, Tulane Posey IV (Morgan), Peyton Posey, John Oliver Cook, Lucie Cook, Madeleine Cook, Annaly Asteros, Juliette Asteros, Milo Asteros, and Aiko Asteros; and 8 great-great-grandchildren, Zach Crawford, Will Crawford, Ella Crawford, Tori Armas, Lila Armas, Ivy Armas, Tulane Posey V, and Libby Armstrong.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Calvary Baptist Church, P. O. Box 1008, Tupelo, MS 38802. Condolences may be emailed to hollandfuneraldirectors@comcast.net. The family expresses gratitude to the staff at Tupelo Health and Rehab for their loving care in the last years of her life.
