Sarah Elizabeth Beard Shorter

Sarah Elizabeth Beard Shorter, 84, died Friday, December, 3, 2021, at Oxford Health and Rehab in Oxford, MS. The funeral service will be held Monday, December 6, 2021, at 2:00 P.M. in the Chapel of Waller Funeral Home with Rev. L. Joe “Joey” Shorter officiating. Burial will follow in Oxford Memorial Cemetery. Visitation will be held at the funeral home prior to the service beginning at 12:30 P.M. 

Born May 30, 1937, in Yocona, MS, the only daughter to Joe Loy and Annie D. Ayles Beard, Sarah was preceded in death by her parents, two brothers Albert Loy and Jessie Lee, her husband of sixty years, Charles Dalton (C.D.) Shorter, her daughter Doris Ann (Doris), and her oldest son Timothy Charles (Tim). She is survived by her two youngest sons Lyonell Joe (Joey) and Jimmy Dalton (Jim), three daughters-in-law, eight grandchildren, four great-grandchildren, three sisters-in-law, one brother-in-law, many cousins, many nieces and nephews, and many lifelong friends all of whom she loved very much. 

Sarah and C.D. grew up in farming families and were educated at Yocona School. Sarah was in the last generation of the family to pick cotton by hand. She played high school basketball for Yocona, and she was very active in 4H and Future Homemakers of America. On April 24, 1954, they were married at New Prospect Baptist Church, and moved to Oxford where they began a lifelong service to the University and the community.  

Sarah was a housewife and mother of four children. She was an avid reader, baker (bread, blueberry muffins and pound cake, and a very fine rum cake!), and a wonderful caregiver to family and friends over the years. As lifelong residents of Oxford and Lafayette County, she and C.D. began their marriage and family as members of First Baptist Church, and were charter members of the Temple Heights Baptist Church. Over the years they attended North Oxford Baptist Church and returned to First Baptist Church to serve in various ministries after retirement. They lived in married housing at Ole Miss to start, moving to a duplex on Pierce Avenue as their first three children were born. Together, they built their first home in the College Hill community in 1962, welcoming their fourth and final child the following year. Sarah was a mother, housewife, and seamstress. As her children grew, she worked in manufacturing producing a minimum of 1200 button holes each week (30/hour) to secure a minimum wage ($1.40/hour, $56.00/week before deductions, no health care benefits). Sarah kept five children in her home for several years, before going back to school to earn her G.E.D. and then working as manager of Guy’s Formalwear, clerk and seamstress at the Rebel Shop at Ole Miss, and finally as clerk and seamstress at the Oxford Fabric Center until retirement. After 31 years and raising a family in the College Hill community, Sarah and C.D. moved back into the city of Oxford (Ridgewood Manor Drive), in 1994.  

On behalf of Sarah, the family wishes to thank the staff of Oxford Health and Rehab, and the staff and care team from Kare-In-Home Hospice. The family requests that any memorials for Sarah be considered as a donation tribute to help fight Alzheimer’s Disease, act.alz.org.