Susanne Fairfax Hazard Beard, a Mississippi lady who served her family and her church, died at home June 2, 2012. She was 90 years old. Services are Tuesday, June 5,2012 at 3:00 P.M. at Main Street Presbyterian Church with Dr. Robert L. Penny and Rev. Chad Watkins officiating. Visitation begins at 1:30 P.M. in the church. Burial will follow at Friendship Cemetery. Memorial Funeral Home is in charge. Mrs. Beard was born in Columbus on February 22, 1922, to the late Bell George Hazard and Mattie Lou Stephenson Hazard. She graduated from Lee High School and attended Ward-Belmont in Nashville, TN, and the University of Mississippi. She was a member of Delta Delta Delta at Ole Miss and remained active in the sororitys alumnae association. She married Fred Lyon Beard of Columbus on September 5, 1942. They lived in Seattle, WA, until the end of World War II. They moved to Jackson, MS, and lived there until 1966 when they moved back to Columbus. In Jackson Mrs. Beard was a member of First Presbyterian Church, the Junior League of Jackson, and the Daughters of the American Revolution. In Columbus she continued her church and civic involvement. She was a member of First Presbyterian Church, now Main Street Presbyterian Church, and in the Columbus Garden Club serving as president in 1978 and again in 1994, the Lowndes County Pioneer Society, Columbus and Lowndes County Historical Society, the National Society of the Colonial Dames in America, and the First Families of Virginia. At her church, she was president of Women in the Church and served for years as a Bible study teacher and church circle leader. Throughout her 67 years of marriage, she was devoted to her husband, Fred, who died April 7, 2010. Her brother, George Stephenson Hazard, and sister, Katherine Hazard Owens, also preceded her in death. Survivors include three sons: Fred L. Beard, Jr., David Hazard Beard (Boopie Swoope), and John Stephenson Beard (Jeanette Hanks); eight grandchildren: Frances Beard Glenn (Robby), Susanne Beard Atkins (Brian), David Hazard Beard, Jr. (Elisha), Eugene Barkley Beard (Amy), Elizabeth Beard Gunter (IV), John Stephenson Beard, Jr. (Ashley), Rachael Beard Elmore (Bobby), and Victoria Beard Rhett (Christopher); 16 great grandchildren; special caregivers: Peggy James, Bessie Gunn, and Shawanda Cannon. Pallbearers wii be Eugene Barkley Beard, David Hazard Beard, Jr., John Stephenson Beard, Jr., Robert Allen Glenn, Brian Alan Atkins, Henry Harris Gunter IV, Robert Thomas Elmore, and Christopher Arrington Rhett. Memorials may be made to Main Street Presbyterian Church, Box 26, Columbus, MS 39703 or to Palmer Home for Children, Box 746, Columbus, MS 39703.
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