Juanita Durham Thomas

Juanita Durham Thomas, 88, of Oxford, MS, died on Sunday, August 11, 2024, at Baptist Memorial Hospital – North Mississippi.

Visitation will be held Saturday, August 17, 2024, from 9:30 A.M. to 11:00 A.M. at College Hill Presbyterian Church in Oxford, and the funeral service will immediately follow at 11:00 A.M. Burial will follow the service in College Hill Cemetery.

Mrs. Thomas was born and raised in Oxford, MS, and attended the University of Mississippi where she met and married Ole Miss two-sport letterman, William “Pepper” Thomas. The couple traveled extensively with Mr. Thomas’s baseball career, and later settled in Meridian, MS, where she operated several successful restaurants. During that time, she was a member and then president of the Mississippi Restaurant Association.

Nita moved back to Oxford with her family and served many home-cooked meals from the restaurant at the University Inn. She finished her lengthy career in the service industry by managing the floral department for over a decade at Kroger in Oxford. After her retirement, she began volunteering for the Oxford-Lafayette Heritage Foundation and served the organization as Treasurer.

Among her many accomplishments, she competed as Miss Oxford in the 1954 Miss Mississippi pageant, was a talented artist and horticulturist, and will be remembered for her strength, generosity, and dedication to her family and friends.

She is preceded in death by her parents, Bilbo and Connie Durham; husband, William “Pepper” Thomas; and brothers, Charles Durham and Sammy Durham. She is survived by her sons Steven Wesley Thomas of Oxford, William Jeffrey Thomas (Rhnea) of Southaven, John Timothy Thomas (Holly) of Tampa, FL, and Orlando Chongo of Oxford; grandchildren Sydney, Will, Chris, and Dalton; brother, James Durham; and sister, Connie Durham Rucker.

Waller Funeral Home is in charge of the arrangements. In lieu of flowers, gifts may be made in her memory to College Hill Presbyterian Church Renovation Fund at 339 Co Rd 102, Oxford, MS 38655.