Ms. Inez (Sookie) Summerville, passed away peacefully at Baptist Memorial Hospital, Columbus, MS on February 2, 2026. She was surrounded by family and friends.

Inez was born on April 24, 1946 in Brooksville, Mississippi to the late Jeffery and Freddie Mae Summerville. Inez confessed her life to Christ at an early age and became a member of Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church. The family moved to Columbus, Mississippi, where she attended Hunt High School and was known as the most beautiful, intelligent and wittiest girl in school.

Inez worked at Johnston Tombigbee Furniture Manufacturing Company for over 30 years, where she produced custom made furniture for the hospitality industry for companies such as Marriott and Hilton. She served as a machine operator and a self-appointed supervisor.

Inez was a loving mother, grandmother and great grandmother who dedicated her life to her family and those she loved. Inez would sit at her kitchen table every day and call all of her family members, especially her aunts, church members, friends, and neighbors to check on them and ensured everyone was OK. Inez had a passion for cooking soul food, especially chicken and dressing, collard, mustard and turnip greens and sweet potato pies, which she inherited from her mother Freddie Mae Summerville.

Inez loved her church, her pastor, Pastor Lee Andrew Sanders and church members. She served as the Vice-President of the Usher Board and the Missionary Ministry at Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church for numerous years. She was a natural born leader and enjoyed giving orders, making people laugh, watering her plants, listening to gospel music, watching Steve Harvey Family Feud and Gunsmoke, making everyone around her feel loved, and caring for her great grandchildren, who called her Mama Sookie.

She is preceded in death by her mother, Freddie Mae Summerville; father, Jeffrey Summerville, daughter, Annie Marie Summerville, sister, Addie B. Summerville; and brother, McKinley Summerville.

Inez leaves to cherish her memories: four children, Shirley (John) Jones (Lincoln, AL), Gladys (Shawn) Summerville-Craddieth (Atlanta, GA), Pamela Summerville and Timothy Summerville (Columbus, MS); one sister, Dorothy Harris (Columbus, MS); three aunts, Betty Jean Mitchell, Fannie Ruth Sherrod (Columbus, MS) and Susie B. Hendricks (Bridgeport, CT); one uncle, Jimmie Lee Sherrod (Columbus, MS); two nieces, Stacey Summerville (Detroit, MI) and Sarah Pearl Summerville (Bridgeport, CT); one nephew, McKinley Wilson (Atlanta, GA); eight grandchildren, Kaswalla, Jamarquis, KeyAnte, Ahmad, LaQuinton, Brianna, Tyesha Summerville and Broderick Cattladge, eighteen great grandchildren; and a host of cousins, great nieces and nephews, special friends and loved ones.