Jesse "May May" Crosby, Sr.

Jesse “May May” Crosby Sr., 90, passed away at the VA Nursing Home in Kosciusko, Saturday, December 26, 2020. He was born April 6, 1930 in Attala County. He lived in and around the Williamsville area growing up and joined the Navy in September 1951 serving stateside during the Korean war. When he was honorably discharged in July 1953, he went to visit his family in Eudora, Arkansas. Within a few days, he met the love of his life, a beautiful young woman named Lucille Brooks who had just barely turned 17 and was starting her Senior year of high school. They married just 2 months later on October 23, 1953. They celebrated 66 happy years together before Lucille passed away in August of this year. After living in Eudora for a while, they moved to Bastrop, LA, where Jesse got a job at the paper mill working nights and going to college during the day. He graduated from North East Louisiana in Monroe and got a job working for the Mississippi Department of Agriculture as an Entomologist. In 1965, Jesse returned to Attala County and that’s where he lived for the rest of his life. Jesse & Lucille were long time members of Parkway Baptist Church where Jesse served as a Deacon and Sunday School teacher for many years. He was a long time, active member of the American Legion. In their later years, when his wife started suffering from Alzheimer’s, he gave up his teaching and all other activities to tend to his wife. To say that he was a devoted husband would be an understatement. He was also a devoted father to his children and a wonderful Papaw to his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He had a very easy going manner. He rarely got angry. He loved to sing and he loved to laugh. Jesse & Lucille were a cohesive unit, a team in every sense of the word. They taught their children kindness, respect and love for one another strictly by their actions. He and Lucille both had a strong work ethic and taught us that anything worth doing was worth doing right. He never cut corners or wavered on doing the right thing. Everything Jesse did was a lifetime commitment. If he chose an insurance company, he never changed it. He chose a church and he never changed. He chose a bank and never left it. And If he bought anything, he never got rid of it. A year or two ago, Jesse told his son, “I love you all the way”. And he did. He loved his family all the way. They weren’t just words to him. He meant everything he said. Lucille had Alzheimer’s for many years and even when she didn’t know him, he took care of her. He had dementia in the last couple of years of his life so we weren’t entirely sure if he knew she was gone, but he did. He outlived her by only 4 months. I think that when they met in heaven, they would have said in unison, “where have you been?!” Jesse was preceded in death by his wife of 66 years, Lucille Brooks Crosby; his parents, Jessie T. (Jett) Crosby and Elverest (Sonny) Crosby; sister, Ella Jo Criswell; brother, Bobby Paul; and his beloved grandson, Tony Crosby. Jesse is survived by his children, Jesse Jr. (Wendy), Bryan (Debbie), and Cindy Duncan (Dennis); 8 grandchildren; 11 great-grandchildren; and a host of nieces and nephews. He is also survived by his sisters, Sylvia Christine Bartlett (Don), and Johnnie Chadwick (Simon). We’d like to thank the caregivers that sat with him in the last few years of his life and also thank the staff at the Kosciusko VA Nursing home who treated him with dignity and respect until the end. Jordan Funeral Home is in charge of the arrangements. Visitation will be from 12 noon to 2 PM on Saturday, January 2. The funeral will follow at 2 PM. Burial is at Attala Memorial Gardens. Pall bearers include Jesse Crosby, Bryan Crosby, Jett Crosby, Colton Crosby, Bryan Crosby Jr., Kyle Sims and Dennis Duncan.