Maxine McNeill

Maxine McNeill passed away at 11 a.m. Monday, Sept. 9, 2013, in Fort Worth. Service: She will return to her beloved Louisville, Miss., where she was born in 1922 for burial in December when all her family can be together to celebrate her amazing 91 years. Visitation will be Saturday, December 14, 2013, at Porter Funeral Home, from 10:00 to 11:15 AM, with a private graveside service to follow at Memorial Park Cemetery. Memorials may be made to The Winston County Library, Louisville, Miss., 39339; Foundation Fighting Blindness, P.O. Box 17279, Baltimore, Md., 21297; Mission to the World, Box 116284, Atlanta, Ga., 30368 and designate the check to Christ's Community Study Center--Mbarara, project # 95942 She was God's best gift to our family, and her children and grandchildren will always be grateful for her unconditional love, her humor, and the spiritual foundation that has guided and shaped us in our own lives. She cherished her many years as head librarian of the Winston County Library and enjoyed her long membership and fellowship at the First Baptist Church of Louisville, Miss. Our memories of this wonderful little woman will now be carried with love in all our hearts for the rest of our own lives, and we will smile---and even chuckle when we think of her and the fun, happiness, and memories of lemon pie and Italian cream cake with which she left us. We, her family, would so love to thank the fantastic staff at the Waterford where she has spent nearly nine happy years and became a family to her, and the ladies whom she called "her girls" with Heart in Hand (now Agape) who tenderly aided in her care when she could no longer do it herself. We would also like to thank all the wonderful folks with Vitas Hospice who appeared like the cavalry with the troops when we, her family, felt so helpless to know exactly how to deal with this last part of her journey in life. She was blessed to have had so many who cared. She was preceded in death by her husband, Ted, and her parents, Grady and Inez Barnhill. Survivors: She is survived by children, Teddy Hadder and her husband, Eddie, of Fort Worth, Kathy Johnston of West Monroe, La., and Don McNeill and wife, Fran, of Mbarara, Uganda. She left grandchildren who were amazing and perfect in her eyes, Barry and Neill Hadder, Robin Milstead and husband, Andy, Kacie Johnston, Nathan McNeill and wife, Rebecca, Seth McNeill, Silas McNeill, and Anna Lewis and husband, Edwin; and many precious great- grandchildren. She also is survived by a sister, Marjorie Hudson, and niece, Daphne Kent, both of Louisville, Miss.