Graveside services for Donald M. Paterson, Jr., 77 of Brookhaven will be at 10:00 a.m., Tuesday, October 27 at Leland-Stoneville Cemetery. Stoneville, MS. For his many former students and local friends there will be a celebration of life to be held at a future date at the Inez Apartment House Lobby, 104 East Monticello Avenue, Brookhaven. He passed away at St. Dominic’s Hospital in Jackson, MS on October 22. Arrangements are under the direction of Boone Funeral Home, Leland.
He was born in Leland, MS on May 5, 1938 to Donald M. and Mary Bess Paterson. He attended the Leland Public Schools, graduating in 1956. Don received a Bachelor’s Degree from The University of Mississippi, and a Master’s degree from the University of Southern Mississippi. He also studied at the University of Texas for a time.
He was a teacher, first at Okaloosa-Walton Community College in Florida, during the first formative years of that institution. He later taught in the Advanced Placement Program for the Brookhaven Public School System for almost thirty years, retiring recently to enjoy his avid reading interests and some private instruction in Brookhaven. He loved to teach, and he very much appreciated every opportunity to hold forth in front of a class of students.
He will be sorely missed by his surviving family, brother James R. Paterson (Lynn) of Oxford, MS; Niece Beth Paterson Edwards (Shelby) of Dunwoody, Georgia; Nephew Tommy Paterson (Lori) of Knoxville, TN; as well as by his many loyal former students and good friends.