Funeral services for Mafalda Mary Fratesi Bouton, 92, of Leland will be held Monday, June, 30, 2014, at St. James Catholic Church in Leland, beginning with a visitation at 10:00 am followed by a mass at 11:00 am. She died Thursday, June 26, 2014 at the Greenwood Leflore Hospital, in Greenwood. Burial will follow at Leland-Stoneville Cemetery under the direction of Boone Funeral Home, Leland.
Mafalda was born at home in Washington County on February 9, 1922, the daughter of Basilio and Elizabeth Fratesi. She graduated from Leland High School in 1941 where she was a basketball star having attained all North Mississippi honors. While working at Ft Dix, New Jersey toward the end of World War II, she met and later married Orville Joseph Bouton in 1947. She lived the rest of her long life in Leland.
Although she raised her family as a farmer’s wife and was actively involved in the family’s farming enterprise, she also took courses in hospital dietetics by correspondence from the University of Florida. She then began a long career as a hospital dietician; first, for 20 years at the Leland Hospital, and then at her beloved Bessie J. Taylor home; not retiring until the closing of the Taylor home when she was 83. Mafalda was also active in her later life as a member of the St. Joseph school board in Greenville.
Mafalda was preceded in death by her husband, Orville Joseph Bouton. She is survived by her sons Joe Bouton (Mary Jeanne) of Athens, GA, Anthony Bouton (Denise) of Gainesville, FL, and John Bouton (Samantha) of Sherman Oaks, CA; and daughters Maria Bouton of Leland, Claire Leatherwood of Long Beach, MS, and Fran Robinson of Leland. She also leaves 11 grandchildren and 3 great grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorials be made in memory of Mafalda to St. James Catholic Church or to the charity of your choice.