Jodi Napier

JODI NAPIER

Jodi Jones Napier, age 82, of Columbus, MS, passed away November 25, 2019, at Aurora Health & Rehab.  Funeral services will be Friday, November 29, 2019, at 1:00 PM at Memorial Gunter Peel Chapel 903 College St. location with Rev. Sammy Crawford officiating.  The interment will immediately follow at Friendship Cemetery.  Visitation will be one hour prior to the service.

Mrs. Napier was born November 13, 1937, in Arthur, TN, to the late Zack and Jane Duncan Jones.  She was the third youngest of eleven children who grew up on a tobacco farm in Arthur, TN.  In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by all ten of her siblings, whom she mentioned often in her final months of life, and husband, Ira Edgar Napier.  Mrs. Napier moved to Columbus with her family in 1967.  She loved her children equally but differently and managed to attend their many games, plays, piano recitals, and band concerts while working full time as purchasing agent at Motion Industries.  Her popcorn balls and orange Kool-Aid were legendary and are still fondly remembered by her children and their friends.  She never said no when her children brought home “just one more” pet, encouraging a love of animals in them.  She and her husband, Ira Napier, remained good friends with her first husband, Joe Merritt, and often welcomed him as a guest in their home until his death in 2006.  She was a loving and doting Grandma who never tired of spending time with her grandchildren.

Mrs. Napier was blessed to have Cherri Ellis as a loving and attentive roommate at Aurora Health & Rehab.  Another loyal friend was Linda Jenkins, who brought special meals and made sure that Mrs. Napier’s children were aware of any needs she had.

Survivors include her sons, Michael Merritt of Columbus, MS, and Martin Merritt and his wife Erna of Dallas, TX, daughter, Melanie Merritt Snider and her husband Ron of Houston, TX, and grandchildren, Danielle Hartleroad and her husband Zach, Laurel Merritt, Zachary Merritt, Alexandria Merritt, and Dustin Amodeo and his wife Danielle.

Pallbearers will be Ron Snider, Jim Gore, Howard Jenkins, Dustin Amodeo, Zach Hartleroad, and Zachary Merritt.

Memorials may be made to Columbus Lowndes Humane Society, P.O. Box 85, Columbus, MS, 39703.