Funeral services for Lucy Nelma Taylor Hall, age 90, of Benoit will be held at 2:00 p.m., Monday, December 12, at Boone Funeral Home, Greenville. She died Saturday, December 10, at Delta Regional Medical Center. Burial will follow in the Shaw Cemetery. Services are under the direction of Boone Funeral Home, Greenville.
Nelma was born to Simon B. and Susie Josey Taylor in Chappells, South Carolina on 4/29/26, a twin to Minnie Thelma Taylor. Nelma moved to southeast Georgia with her family in 1932, where they farmed cotton and tobacco. Susie died in 1933 when Nelma was 7, and Simon married Arlie Avera in 1935.
Nelma graduated high school in 1944 in Adel, Ga. In 1945 she began to work in the high school cafeteria, before moving to Jacksonville, FL in 1948 to work in a fire tower, watching for fires.
She married Lester Hall on 10/8/49 at her brother’s home in Olustee, FL. The couple met 6 weeks prior at church. They made their home in Jacksonville, FL before moving to Fernandina Beach, FL in 1951, where their 4 children were born.
In March 1962, the family moved to the Mississippi Delta, so Lester could pursue his dream of becoming an agriculture pilot. In May of 1975, Nelma also received her private pilot’s license. The couple owned several small private planes during their lifetime.
Nelma was a cancer survivor, having had cancer in 1976 and again in 1980.
She and Lester traveled extensively across the United States in their travel trailers before giving that up to become caregivers for Nelma’s handicapped sister, Hazel, and Lester’s mother until both their deaths.
She enjoyed sewing, gardening, crocheting, and quilting. She crotched countless baby afghans for her family and friends in the community. At the age of 85, she hand quilted quilts for all of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
She was an avid reader, having read most, if not all of the books in the Benoit Union Church library. She also enjoyed baking bread for her family and friends.
She was a Baptist and a member of the Benoit Baptist Church, part of the Benoit Union Church in Benoit, MS. She was very active in the church all her life until declining health in later years. One of the things she was known for was sending cards from the church to those who had special needs of comfort and cheer. She was a friend to all she met, regardless of their race or social status.
She was preceded in death by her parents, her step-mother, her brothers Carl Taylor, Edgar Taylor, and Lamar Taylor, and sisters, Hazel Taylor, and her twin Thelma Taylor Bennett.
She is survived by her husband of 67 years, James Lester Hall; a daughter, Sue Ellen Hall Pinnix (Tommy) of Stringtown, MS; 3 sons, Michael Terry Hall (Majella) of Pottsboro, TX, James William “Billy” Hall (Brenda) of Coffeeville, MS, and Steve Allan Hall (Melanie) of Cleveland, MS; a stepsister, Betty Avera Patten of Lenox, GA; a stepbrother, Grover C. Avera of Lady Lake, FL; 6 grandchildren, James William “Billy” Hall of Oakland, TN, Thomas Leslie Pinnix (Searcy) of Greenville, MS, Lisa Hall of Cleveland, MS, Allison Hall of Collierville, TN, Whitney McCown of Ada, OK, and Bethany Hall of St. Petersburg, FL; and great-grandchildren, Samantha McCown, Brody McCown, and Hayden McCown, all of Ada, OK, Madison Pinnix, Thomas Hall Pinnix, and twins, Meriwether and Milam Pinnix, all of Greenville, MS; and many nieces and nephews.
A visitation will be held one hour before the services on Monday. The family requests memorials be made to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, PO Box 50, Memphis, TN 38101-9929 or The Baptist Children’s Village, PO Box 27, Clinton, MS 39060-0027.