Anne Evans Milburn

Katherine Anne Milburn passed Monday, Nov. 8, 2021, the way we all hope to go: Peacefully in her bed, well into her golden years. She was 91. Visitation will be held on Thursday, Nov. 11, 2021, beginning at 10 A.M. at Waller Funeral Home in Oxford, Miss. The funeral service will begin at 11 A.M. with Rev. Marshall Henderson officiating. A burial service will follow at 3 P.M. in the Lehrton Cemetery in Ruleville, Miss.

Anne was known to her family (as well as many friends and acquaintances in her later years) as “Doll,” and lived up to the name with an enduring gracious and enchanting spirit. She was not one to boast, but the same cannot be said of her family, who have — to a person — taken great pride in their relation to her. She was a stunner — as beautiful on the inside as she was in the flesh, and whip-smart to boot. She had a career keeping books for a slew of businesses, knocked out a crossword puzzle every day, and was a shark at the bridge table. Those who had the good fortune to call her a friend knew her to be exceptionally kind and generous, and descriptions of her often included “lovely” and “fine” and “genteel.” One of the highest compliments paid her was that she was “always the same sweet and generous person — whether in bad times or good.” Anne was born on Feb. 7, 1930, in Greenwood, Miss., to Roy and Wray (née Wyse) Evans. She lived her entire life in Mississippi, growing up in Greenwood and moving as a teenager to Greenville, where she graduated from E.E. Bass High School in 1947. She moved to Ruleville after marrying Richard “Dick” Milburn and lived there for 50 years, where she was a fixture at the Ruleville First United Methodist Church, its choir, the United Methodist Women and the 20th Century Club. She volunteered her time with the local library, as a poll worker, and with the cemetery board. It wasn’t until her mid-80s that she left the Mississippi Delta to move to Oxford, where she went about charming the locals as effortlessly as she had in the Delta, joining the David Reese Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

She was, and is, beloved by her family and leaves a void that cannot be filled. She was preceded in death by her husband; oldest son, William Ross Smith, Jr.; and sister, Margaret Rose Holloway.

She is survived by her youngest son, Richard Hayden Smith, and daughter-in-law, Emily Smith, of Cleveland, Miss.; daughter-in-law Virginia Smith Young, of Oxford, Miss.; brother Roy Dudley Evans, of Bassfield, Miss; nieces Alice Sanders, of Kosciusko, Miss.; Susan Guercio (Mike), of Venice, Fla.; and Linda Bradshaw (Sunny), of Fairhope, Ala.; five grandchildren, Margery Smith Beck, of Omaha, Neb.; Brandon Smith (Angel), of Oxford, Miss.; Jill-Curry Henderson (Marshall), of Fort Payne, Ala.; Hayden Evans Smith (Chris), of Helena, Ala.; and David Ross Smith, of Cleveland, Miss., and 16 great-grandchildren.

Expressions of sympathy or memorial contributions in Anne’s memory may be made to Ruleville First United Methodist Church, 100 S. Chester Avenue, Ruleville, MS 38771.