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Sue Willie Hawkins Washington was born on June 29, 1925, in Adams County, Mississippi, to Jessie Hawkins and Carrie Walker Hawkins. She made the transition to her heavenly home on September 23, 2023 at 2:20 p.m. During her lifetime, she has filled a variety of roles: wife, mother, homemaker, educator, mentor and a Mother of her church. She was the wife of Walter "Little Buddy" Washington and the mother of Patricia Ann Washington Rhyns. She taught in the Natchez-Adams County Public School System for 35 years. Sue has been a devoted member of St. Charles Baptist Church since 1940, where she served as an usher and Sunday School secretary. She was ordained as a Mother in 1984. Sue received her education at Rowandale Elementary School (1st grade to 8th grade), Brumfield High School (9th grade to 12th grade), Natchez College and Alcorn State University where she graduated in May of 1957 with a B.S. degree in Elementary Education with a minor in home economics. She continued graduate work at the University of Southern Mississippi at the Natchez, MS campus. Sue was an avid cook and baker and could frequently be found in one of her favorite places, the kitchen. She would not rest until she knew that each person in her presence had a full stomach. Sue poured love into everything that she made, whether it was a three layer chocolate cake or peach cobbler. She passed her joy and skill of cooking down to her daughter and her granddaughters; however she did not reveal all of her secrets! Over the 98 years that Sue spent on this earth, she survived picking cotton and working as a nanny. She had a front seat to World War II, Jim Crow, The Civil Rights Movement, seeing the first Black president and First Lady, the first female Black Vice President, the invention of the internet and cell phones. She went from a world with no TV's, to TV'S with tubes, to watching her soaps on high definition flat screen TV's. She survived a world pandemic even after catching COVID. Through all of that living, she remained a steadfast woman of faith. Sue was preceded in death by her husband of 46 years, Walter Washington, parents, Jessie and Carrie Hawkins, and three sisters, Exelena Hawkins, Idelle Hawkins Craig and Dollie Lee Hawkins Calvit. Sue is survived by one daughter: Patricia Ann Washington Rhyns, who has been married to Mark Anthony Rhyns for 46 years, two grandchildren: Cherise Nicole-Janelle Rhyns of Upper Marlboro, MD and Carrie Denise Minique Rhyns Rogers (Brian) of Landover, MD; five great-grandchildren: Skye Noelle Rogers (11), Chase Matthew Ordhil Vanterpool (10), Ariana Patrice Rogers (3), Caylen Faith Rhyns-Balma (2), and Nova Lee Rogers (1), one god-child, Anthony "Tony" Calvit, five nieces, four nephews and a host of other relatives and friends.

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Mrs. Sue Willie Washington

June 29, 1925 - September 23, 2023