Myrtle Virginia Reese Hankins, born on October 6, 1921, to Winona Leech Reese and Roy Reese in the New Salem community of Itawamba County, died August 3, 2013, at her home in Fulton.
She attended Itawamba Agricultural High School in Fulton, East Mississippi Junior College in Scooba, and Mississippi State University in Starkville. During World War II Mrs. Hankins supported the war effort by working in a heavy artillery munitions production facility in Prairie, Mississippi. On December 21, 1942, she married Elzie Lee Hankins. She and her husband, along with Rex and Gena Brown, opened the Itawamba Manufacturing Company in 1948. For decades Mrs. Hankins served her community and churches, First Baptist of Fulton and Southside Baptist in Fulton, by sharing her singing and piano skills while also serving youth ministry as a Sunday school teacher.
Her ardent desire to improve the lives of the youth in her community led her to becoming a Cub Scout den mother, and further support of scouting led to her proudly witnessing all three of her sons achieving Eagle Scout awards. Additionally, Mrs. Hankins and her husband avidly supported and attended Itawamba youth sports. To fulfill her ardent desire to instruct and shape the lives of children, Mrs. Hankins employed her time substitute teaching at the Fulton Grammar School.
Through service to the South Fulton Homemakers and Home Demonstration Association, Mrs. Hankins wrote regular recaps of her community activities for the Itawamba County Times as well as representing her organization and Itawamba County both regionally and nationally. She loved her family, friends, and community, and left a legacy of love, giving, and service to her God and others.
She is mourned by her sons, Jordan (Katherine), Ross (Fara Shook), and Patrick, her grandchildren Loren, Nancy (Jeremy Stewart), Richard, Bonner, and Anne Carolyn Virginia, Sister: Rivers Smith, and Kim and Steve Jarrett.
She was preceded in death by her parents, husband of 32 years, brothers Curtis Reese, who was lost over Germany during WWII, Allen Reese, Newman Reese, and Russell Reese, and sisters Wilma Lindsey and Helen Harrison
