Graveside services for Mary Maxine Jordan Caulfield, 100, of Greenville will be at 3:00 p.m., Sunday, January 15 at the Greenville Cemetery. She died peacefully in her sleep on Thursday, January 12. Arrangements are under the direction of Boone Funeral Home, Greenville.
Maxine was born to Mary Virginia Evans Jordan and John Wesley Jordan on August 4, 1916, at their home in Murphy, Washington County, Mississippi, a community located where Murphy Bayou intersects the Big Sunflower River. She remembered a charmed childhood with her brother and sister, swimming and skiing in the Sunflower, playing tennis, and riding on horseback through field and bayou. She loved her family, referring to her father as “a fun-loving man, crackerjack farmer and excellent businessman”. Her mother, she described as “a gentlewoman of great good humor.”
Maxine graduated from the Hollandale School System in 1934. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Business Education from Western Kentucky State Teachers College, now known as Western Kentucky University, in Bowling Green, Kentucky, in 1938. In 1969, she received a Masters in Business Education at Ole Miss. Between 1940 and 1978 she taught business education in several Mississippi school systems, notably Belzoni, Centreville, Hollandale, and Greenville High School where she was chairman of the business education department for several years, retiring in 1978. Missing her teaching career she actually looked into substitute-teaching at 94 years old. Maxine had a great fondness for her students and enjoyed chance meetings with them over the years. Early in her career, she was president of the old Greenville Education Association and more recently was president of the local chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma, an international educators’ fraternity.
Maxine was a devoted member of Trinity United Methodist Church for 60 years and served as the secretary to the Mississippi Conference United Methodist Women. She was a dedicated member of Church Women United and cherished the work of that organization. She loved that diverse, strong group of women.
Maxine was a past vice-president of the Alice Bell Garden Club in Greenville and took great joy in the fellowship and knowledge she gleaned while a member. Maxine was a country girl at heart as evidenced by her tree-and-shrub-planting escapades, which took place in her yard almost constantly. She was truly a tree hugger in the best sense of the word and did, on occasion, win awards for her flower arrangements. Every Halloween she “painted and delivered pumpkins” for sale by the Alice Bell Club as a fund-raising project.
Maxine was a patron of the arts, finding much pleasure in attending Delta Center Stage events and the Greenville Symphony concerts. She was also a Patron of the Delta Debutante Club and a world traveler in her younger years.
Maxine was married to Ray Douglas Caulfield of Centreville, Mississippi on October 3, 1942. Ray predeceased her in 1980.
Except for seven years when she and Ray and their young family lived in California, Maxine was a resident of Washington County, Mississippi for 100 years.
Maxine was predeceased by her parents, Mary Virginia Evans and John Wesley Jordan; her husband, Ray Douglas Caulfield; her brother Evans Jordan, who died in infancy; her beloved brother John Wesley Jordan, Jr. who was killed in action in Europe during the waning days of World War II; her sister Beryl Jordan Morgan of Oxford, Mississippi; and by her older son, John Douglas Caulfield. She is survived by a daughter Kay Caulfield Frost of Greenville; a son Michael Damon Caulfield and his wife Ann Laird Jones of Greenville; and Marta Rovelstad Caulfield of Austin, Texas, the wife of her late son John Douglas Caulfield.
She is also survived by a grandson, Jordan Henry Caulfield and his wife Kim Hudgens Caulfield of Austin, Texas; her grandson, Sean Damon Frost and his wife Norma Briggs Frost of Byron, Wyoming; granddaughter Sarah (Sally) Jordan Caulfield of Atlanta, Georgia; grandson Douglas Laird Caulfield of Oxford, Mississippi; by great-granddaughters Hayley Marie Frost Huntley and Jordan Elizabeth Frost of Lovell, Wyoming; and a great great grandson Zayden Sean Huntley of Lovell, Wyoming.
Thank you to all the friends and family of Maxine who made her life such a joy to live. She loved God, her family, her friends and her life immeasurably.
Our special thanks and love go to Ms. Freddie Payne for the care and love she continuously provided over the last three years of Mom’s life and also to Magnolia Gardens and to Grace Hospice for the outstanding, professional and cheerful care provided by their staff.
There will be a visitation from 1:30-2:30 p.m., Sunday, January 15 at Boone Funeral Home, Greenville.