Sonia Gilliam Truitt of Columbus, Mississippi

May 1, 1938 - September 30, 2021

SONIA GILLIAM TRUITT

Sonia Gilliam Truitt, age 83, of Columbus, MS, passed away September 30, 2021 at Trinity Healthcare in Columbus, MS. A Family Graveside service will be held Friday, October 8, 2021, at 11:00 am at the Odd Fellows Cemetery in Lexington, MS with Dr. Shawn Parker officiating. Memorial Gunter Peel Funeral Home 716 2 nd Ave N Columbus, MS is in charge of arrangements.

Mrs. Truitt was born May 1, 1938, in Lexington, MS, to the late Hal Anderson Gilliam and Mary Alice Chason Gilliam. She was a graduate of Mississippi College in 1959 with a degree in Education, and later earned a Masters degree in Education at the Mississippi University for Women.

She married Wayne Walley Truitt in 1959, and together they worked as educators in Moss Point and Picayune, MS before moving to Columbus in 1967. Mrs. Truitt taught in Columbus schools for 25 years, finishing a long teaching career at Franklin Academy in 1992. Mrs. Truitt was a member of First Baptist Church in Columbus for 54 years, and was active in Sunday School and Women on Mission. She and her husband Wayne also delivered church literature to homebound church members for many years. She was also active in the Daughters of the American Revolution of Columbus and enjoyed participating in Memorial Day celebrations at Friendship Cemetery, often reading the poem “The Blue and the Gray” by Francis Miles French. She also served as a hostess several years during the Columbus Pilgrimage in the Spring. In her later years she enjoyed corresponding with friends and former students all across the country.

In addition to her parents, Mrs. Truitt was preceded in death by her husband of 56 years, Wayne Truitt. She is survived by her son, Hal Gilliam Truitt (Kaye) of Columbus, grandchildren Anna Truitt (Matt) Bush of Laurel, MS, Mary Alice Truitt of Fort Collins, CO, and Richard Wayne Truitt of Los Angeles, CA, and great grandchildren Truitt Charles Bush and Evan Gilliam Bush of Laurel, MS.

Pallbearers will be Ricky Truitt, Matt Bush, Chuck Truitt, Christopher Truitt, Clay Truitt, and Charles Wayne Massey. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations in her memory be made to the Parkinson’s Foundation (parkinson.org) or the missions organization of their choice.