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Anna Womack
JACKSON, Tenn. — Anna Elizabeth McKibben Womack, age 100, passed away of natural causes on June 22, 2024, at her residence in Jackson, Tennessee. She was supremely loved by her family and by countless friends and acquaintances for her continual kindness and smiling graciousness to everyone around her.
Elizabeth was born Oct. 9, 1923, in Coffeeville, Mississippi, to James McKibben and Nellie Vera Hanks McKibben. She was the middle of five children. The McKibben family eventually settled on a farm in nearby Panola County, Mississippi, near the towns of Sardis and Batesville. In 1941, "Lib" McKibben graduated from Pleasant Grove High School, where she had enjoyed playing on the girl's basketball team. During World War II, she moved to Memphis, Tennessee, where she was employed by Sears, Roebuck & Co. in catalog order fulfillment and in the makeup department. She then was employed for five years at the Greyhound Corporation at its bus terminal in Memphis, where she scheduled routes and drivers.
On July 18, 1948, in Sardis, she was married to returning World War II veteran Tom Foard Womack. The young couple took up residence near Catron, Missouri, where her husband began a 40-year career as a rural mail carrier with the U.S. Postal Service. Tom and Elizabeth settled eventually on a small cotton farm just west of Catron, where he built their home, and where they raised three sons. As the boys grew older, Elizabeth worked as a mail clerk at the Catron Post Office, and later as a teacher's aide in the elementary school at nearby Parma, Missouri. They were active members of Parma Methodist Church. They regularly kept a large and thriving vegetable garden on their farm, and Elizabeth was renowned for her tasty preparation of garden vegetables as well as meats and desserts. She was also a lifelong avid reader. After a half-century on their farm, the couple moved in 2007 to Sikeston, Missouri, after Tom retired from the postal service. In Sikeston they became members of Wesley Methodist Church. In Sikeston they celebrated their golden wedding anniversary in 1998, surrounded by family and friends.
Elizabeth was preceded in death by her father in 1988, by her mother in 1990, and also by her two brothers and two sisters. She was preceded in death by her husband in 2013 (after 65 years together), and by their youngest son, Jeffery G. Womack, in 2006. After living alone as a widow in Sikeston for nearly a decade, in 2022 she moved to Jackson, Tennessee, to reside with family. There she celebrated her 100th birthday in October 2023, happily receiving scores of birthday cards.
She is survived by sons, Kenneth W. Womack (and wife Alice) of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and Thomas H. Womack (and wife Rebecca) of Sisters, Oregon; and also by daughter-in-law Marva Womack of Gilbertsville, Kentucky. She is survived also by 10 grandchildren: Sarah Womack of Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania; Kendall Womack of Portland, Oregon; Dottie Autrey of Columbia, Tennessee; Christina Griffin of Jackson, Tennessee; Adam Womack of Wentzville, Missouri; Foard Womack of Glendale, Arizona; and McKibben Womack, Lena Vogelgesang, Byron Womack, and Harrison Womack, all of Sisters, Oregon. She is survived also by 30 great-grandchildren, three great-great-grandchildren, and numerous nieces and nephews who have often called her their favorite aunt.
Visitation will be Thursday, June 27 from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Ponder Funeral Home in Sikeston.
Following the visitation, a graveside service will be held at the Missouri Veterans Cemetery in Bloomfield, Missouri, at 2 p.m. Burial will be beside her husband at the Missouri Veterans' Cemetery in Bloomfield.
Contributions may be made to Sikeston Area Humane Society Animal Rescue, P.O. Box 1428, Sikeston, MO 63801; or Wesley United Methodist Church, P.O. Box 472, Sikeston, MO 63801.