Eugenia Jones Lagrone, 86, of Tupelo, MS, died on August 14, 2026. She passed away peacefully in her sleep close to her family in Sugar Land, Texas.
Known as “Jeanne,” “Jeannie,” “Miss Jeannie,” and “Genie,” Eugenia Jones Lagrone was born in Winona, MS in 1939 to Reverend Winfred Pipes Jones, an Episcopal priest, and Eugenia Lewis Brookfield Jones. The young Eugenia spent her formative years in Florida, exploring the swamps with her brothers near the St. John’s River, working as an underwater mermaid at Weeki Wachee Springs State Park, starring on her high school basketball team, and twirling fire batons at the local rodeo. After graduating from Palatka High School in 1957, Eugenia left Florida, but in many ways Florida, and in particular the beach and ocean, never left her.
After attending the University of Virginia’s Mary Washington College, she transferred to the University of Mississippi, where she served as an officer in the Women’s Student Government Association. She married attorney Wade Hampton Lagrone, Jr. of Tupelo in 1961, the same year she graduated from Ole Miss.
Eugenia lived in Tupelo for over 50 years. She was a champion of the arts and a talented pianist who remained musically engaged throughout her life. She was a devoted mother and a tireless wrangler of four independently-minded children. But she was also a wife, a sister, a community leader, a skilled networker, a July 4th parade leader, a school teacher, a swim teacher, a long-distance runner, an avid tennis player, a children’s choir leader, and an active parishioner of her beloved church, All Saints Episcopal. She loved and missed Tupelo until the end of her life, never forgetting the town that both shaped and reflected her beliefs about all that is good in people.
A memorial service will be held at 2 PM on Saturday, October 10 at All Saints’ Episcopal Church (608 W. Jefferson St., Tupelo, MS). Holland Funeral Directors – Tupelo Chapel is honored to serve their friends.
She is survived by her sister, Winifred “Winnie” Peeples (Ellisville, Missouri), her children, Lewis Lagrone, Constance Lagrone and husband Russell Hartmann (Sugar Land, TX), Wade Hampton Lagrone III and wife Emily Banwell Lagrone, and Wes Lagrone (Oakland, CA). She is also survived by her grandchildren, Hartley Lagrone Press (Philadelphia, PA), Nevin Rosner Press (San Antonio, Texas), Ashley Nicole Fleischer and husband Kevin Fleischer (Vienna, VA), Mary Brookfield Hartmann (NYC, NY), Lucy Kong Lagrone, Richard Lycurgus (Gus) Lagrone, Atalanta (Attie) May Lagrone, Cleo Linda Edward Lagrone (Oakland, CA), along with many adored nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her husband, Wade Hampton Lagrone, Jr., who passed away December 22, 2003, in Tupelo, and her brothers, John Ackland Jones and William Hartley Jones, as well as her granddaughter Jennifer Leigh Hartmann.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to All Saints Episcopal Church or the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America, 322 Eighth Avenue, 16th Floor, New York, NY 10001.
Condolences for the family may be left on her memorial page at hollandfuneraldirectors.com.
