Rita Marie Douglass

Rita Marie Douglass, age 80, of Columbus, MS, passed away April 23, 2024, at Baptist Memorial Hospital.  Funeral services will be Thursday, April 25, 2024, at 11:00 AM at First Methodist Church with Rev. Dr. Vaughn Stafford officiating.  The interment will immediately follow at Friendship Cemetery.  Memorial Gunter Peel Funeral Home & Crematory is in charge of arrangements.
Mrs. Douglass was born May 21, 1943, in Columbus, MS.  She was a graduate of Caledonia High School and Mississippi University for Women.  Mrs. Douglass was an avid member of First Methodist Church where she belonged to the Lewis Fellowship Sunday School Class and was Director of the Keenagers.  She was president of the Antiquities Society of the Lee Home and member of the Northwood Garden Club.  Mrs. Douglass was a huge supporter of Mississippi State and loved playing cards on Thursdays with the "Card Group".  She was preceded in death by her husband, Joe C. Douglass, grandmother who raised her, Ruth Southerland, and son, Charles Buddy House.
Survivors include her son, William C. Douglass of Baton Rouge, LA, family members, Kelly and Jack Hayes of Columbus, MS, Emily, Hamp, and Hope Douglass Holley of Columbus, MS, as well as Lona Southerland, Ann Southerland, Vicki Doughty, and Angie Doughty Sanders.
Pallbearers will be Billy Phillips, Bud Phillips, Bob Phillips, Steve Swedenburg, Scott Hannon, Allen Kerby, Jack Hayes, and Hamp Holley.
Honorary pallbearers will be Dr. Jack Reed, B. A. Atkins, Ollie Wilkes, Dr. Steve Porter, and members of the Lewis Fellowship Sunday School Class.
Memorials may be made to the First Methodist Church, P.O. Box 32, Columbus, MS, 39703.