Lorene Looney Campbell “Momzie,” 87, of Tuscumbia, passed away peacefully surrounded by her family Thursday, May 22, 2014. Lorene was born March 18, 1927, to Lloyd and Genevieve Woods Looney in Akron, Ohio. She grew up in Danville, Alabama.
Visitation will be held at Our Lady of the Shoals Catholic Church in Tuscumbia, Alabama today from 5-7 p.m. with the Rosary to follow. The funeral Mass will be held Saturday, May 24, 2014, at 11 a.m. The Rev. Don Forsythe will officiate and her granddaughter, Sarah Campbell Prejeant, will give her eulogy. Burial will follow at Holy Cross Cemetery.
She is preceded in death by her parents, her husband, James Billy (Red) Campbell, her son, James Billy Campbell Jr., and her grandson, Thomas Grant Campbell II.
She is survived by her daughter, Sherry Campbell, of Tuscumbia; her sons, Thomas Grant Campbell (Linda), Michael Edward Campbell (Nickie), of Muscle Shoals, and Mark Looney Campbell (Mary Beth), of Florence; grandchildren, Callie Howard (Trey), J Michael Campbell, of Florence, and Sarah Prejeant (David), of Muscle Shoals; and great-granddaughter, Elise Faye Prejeant.
Lorene leaves behind a whole host of special nieces, nephews, and friends.
Pallbearers will be Carl Thompson, Bob Harris, Drew Aldridge, Gary Harland, Chuck Tompkins, J Michael Campbell, David Prejeant, and Trey Howard.
Eucharistic Ministers will be Willie Morris and Wayne Chaney with the Our Lady of the Shoals Choir providing music. Her son, Mark, will play the last hymn at burial.
Lorene “Momzie” was married to James Billy (Red) Campbell, until his death in 1990, who was co-owner Muscle Shoals Drug Co. She raised five children and was involved in all their activities before she started back to college after her children started high school and college. While her children were in school she started a library for Our Lady of the Shoals Catholic School, was a Boy Scout den mother and a Girl Scout leader, was active in the Women’s Society at OLS Church, and instrumental in forming the Tuscumbia Little League. She earned a B.S. degree from Florence State College after her children were in high school and college. After earning her degree, she ran the Book Mobile for Colbert and Lauderdale County before going to work for Colbert County Board of Education as a librarian. She started the libraries for three Colbert County schools. After her husband came out of retirement in 1980 to buy Southland Restaurant, she left teaching to once again help in the family business which became three Campbell’s Restaurants. Her husband died in 1990, and she decided to retire in 1995 to devote herself to volunteer activities and grandchildren. She was active in the Daughters of the American Revolution and helped to promote patriotism in the local schools, the Women’s Society at OLS Church, several prayer groups, delivered Meals on Wheels, and the Salvation Army Auxiliary an organization for which she raised over $2,000 each year in ticket sales for The Empty Bowl Luncheon. During the years she was in the restaurant business, she dressed hundreds of dolls for the Salvation Army Christmas stocking program. She also cooked and took food to the sick and shut-ins on a weekly basis. In the last couple of years she was unable to cook entire meals so would make deviled eggs and cornbread and send them to her neighbors and children. She was also a “Queen Mother” of the GRITS Queens. For her entire life, Lorene was a prayer warrior who cared deeply for the spiritual welfare of her family and friends. Lorene Campbell was the epitome of a true “southern lady” and will be greatly missed.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Our Lady of the Shoals Cemetery Fund, 200 E. Commons St. North, Tuscumbia, AL 35674, or The Helen Keller Library in Tuscumbia.
An online guest book is available at morrisonfuneralhomes.com.
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