Mrs. Jo Dean Mitchell Ward, age 88, of McMinnville, TN, died Sunday, September 28, 2025, at the Webb House in Smithville, TN. She was born on December 04, 1936, worked in food service as a cafeteria manager in the Warren County School System, and was a member of Northside Baptist Church where she was a Sunday school teacher for over 50 years and grew to be an avid Bible student. She was known to those who loved her and cherished her as “Mama Jo”. Jo Dean still had an active life as she grew older; playing Senior Olympic basketball and crocheting. She was preceded in death by her parents Joe B. Mitchell and Hattie Ola Cantrell Mitchell, husband William “Bill” Earl Ward, a son William Jeffery Ward, and great-grandson Samuel James Cressley.
Survivors include her daughter and son-in-law Wanda (Robert) Wilson of Morrison, TN, sons and daughters-in-law Chris (Janice) Ward of Winchester, TN, and Eric (Elizabeth) Ward of College Grove, TN, grandchildren Zach (Jenny) Wilson, John (Kayla) Wilson, Kim Wilson (Danny Sosa), Rachel (Tony) Breazeale, Andrew (Kristan) Ward, Joseph (Victoria) Ward, Bethany Ward, Lauren (Corban) Cressley, and Erica (Will) Woods, great-grandchildren Conner Wilson, Isaiah Wilson, Ella Wilson, Beckett Wilson, Baylor Kate Wilson, Mila Sosa, Sadee Sangid, Brock Sangid, Kensington Ward, Cora Ward, Esslie Ward, Harrison Cressley, Nolan Cressley, William Woods, and Abby Reece Woods.
Funeral service is 11:00 A.M. Friday, October 03, 2025, at McMinnville Funeral Home Chapel. Jason Whitmore will officiate. Interment will follow at Crain Hill Cemetery in Van Buren County, TN. The Ward Family will receive friends on Thursday from 5:00 P.M. until 8:00 P.M. and again on Friday from 9:00 A.M. until service time at 11:00 A.M. in the parlors of McMinnville Funeral Home.
