Beverly Lynn Butler Laughlin passed away peacefully surrounded by her loving family on Monday afternoon, November 28, 2016, at 4:50 pm.
Beverly, affectionately known as “Me-Mo,” was born in Jackson, Tennessee on September 22, 1933. Educated in Jackson, she graduated from Jackson High School in 1951 and West Tennessee Business College in 1953. She enjoyed serving on the reunion committee from Jackson High and kept in touch with many of her classmates over the years. She never missed a class reunion.
She began her professional career as a legal secretary working with Judges, Walter Baker Harris, and Billy Jack Goodrich, respectively. She also worked at Bendix, ITT Nesbitt, the Tennessee Valley Authority, and the State of Tennessee Civil Defense before retiring from the Tennessee Department of Transportation in 1995. She enjoyed her role in the early 70’s serving on the fund-raising campaign to relocate the Union University Campus to Highway 45 Bypass. During that time, she adopted many Union students whom she regularly housed and fed.
Beverly and Jack raised their children at North Jackson Baptist Church. Me-Mo regularly hosted showers and teas for church members and always welcomed the youth into her home. She sang for several years with the “Silver Tones” who were also lifelong friends from North Jackson: Mabel Kinard, Annie Dudley, Louise Stegall, Beverly Taylor, Betty Trull, and Earline Henderson. Beverly and Jack also traveled with their camping buddies all over the country for almost twenty years. These devoted friends included: Bobby and Mabel Kinard, Billy Joe and Emily Church, Leon and Annie Dudley, Bob and Mary Alice Moore, Kenneth and Beverly Taylor, George and Virginia Harston, and Harold and Doris Freeman.
Beverly was married to Jack Surratt Laughlin on December 6, 1952. Married for 64 years, Jack and Beverly lovingly raised their four children on “The Hill.” Beverly was preceded in death by her parents, Elmer and Mary Helen Couch Butler, and her son, Jack Michael (Mike) Laughlin. She is survived by her husband, Jack; children, Judy Davis (Ray), Melinda Stewart (Bill), and Danny Laughlin (Kim); daughter-in-law, Janet Laughlin; nine grandchildren, six great grandchildren, and a dear cousin, Linda Couch Rushing.
SERVICES: Funeral services are handled by Arrington Funeral Directors, with visitation at the funeral home on Friday, December 2, from 5:00-7:00 p.m., and funeral services at Englewood Baptist Church Chapel at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, December 3. Memorials for Beverly Laughlin may be made to Englewood Baptist Church 2020 Vision Fund, The Storyline Church Plant, North Jackson Baptist Church, or Lambuth Memorial United Methodist Church.
Arrington Funeral Directors, 148 W. University Parkway 668-1111 www.arringtonfuneralgroup.com
