Becky Sue Sones

Rebecca Sones, age 83, passed away on Thursday, December 19, 2024, at her residence in Forest, MS. Her visitation will be held on Monday, December 23, 2024 from 1:00PM until 2:15 PM at Wolf Funeral Services in Morton, MS. Her services will take place at 2:30 PM in the funeral home chapel. Her burial will follow at Eastern Cemetery in Forest, MS.

Rebecca Sue Bishop Sones (Becky) was born on May 26, 1941, to Murphy and Eula May Windham Bishop. She was the youngest of their eight children and the sixth daughter. The Bishop family moved to their home in Forest when Becky was quite young. She would spend her school years in the Forest School system and graduate from Forest High School in 1959. She would become a long-time member of Forest Baptist Church.

She and her siblings were no strangers to work; they helped to operate the family dairy from the time they were old enough to pick up a milk can or help with deliveries. One family legend has it that Becky and her brother Driskell worked out a system of driving whereby one sat on the seat and steered, while the other was on the floorboard operating gas and brakes. Hopefully, this only happened in the yard or around the barn.

A productive garden was a necessity for large families, and theirs was no exception. As the girls got older and complained about not having time to “get a tan", Mrs. Bishop (as they sometimes lovingly called their mother) was quick to convince them that the best tans could be obtained by using a hoe in the garden. Evidently, the Bishop girls had really good tans. 

Becky married James V. Sones from Harperville on December 20, 1958, during Christmas break of her senior year at Forest High School. They would have four children: Bart, Sondra, Judy, and Darhlene. 

Becky’s long working career included a variety of positions. For many years, she and James operated the ambulance service for Scott County and the surrounding areas. Those who worked for them and the many who were helped by them over the years can attest to their dedication to any who needed medical assistance. 

She and her daughter opened and operated the convenience store Velo’s, on Oak Street, where she came to be known to the customers as “Mrs. Velo.” 

Then, instead of retiring, Becky worked in local nursery and garden centers. Those gardening, plant-loving traits had been inherited from her mother. She had a small plant/lawn service for a time, planting and maintaining flower beds for her customers. The no- longer used dairy barn would become her nursery. It is amazing the plants that can be grown in old dairy cattle troughs. She grew beds of cutting flowers long before SOUTHERN LIVING made it fashionable. A rather large greenhouse in the side yard at 715 East Oak Street would eventually make its appearance. Finally, her declining health would curtail her actively working with her plants and in her vegetable garden. However, the interest and the knowledge did not leave her, and she was happy to share that knowledge.

Next to her family, she loved people, the outdoors, and her German shepherds. A ride to the pond to take the dogs for a swim was a treat for her as much as them. She had so many talents and interests: she crocheted beautiful afghans; she could make a pie crust that flaked with a fork just like the ones in the old Crisco commercials and a coconut cake that melted in the mouth. She could play the piano—the one she learned to play is still in her house. She developed a love for John Grisham novels. She joked that fading memory was sometimes a blessing—she could reread her novels and think they were new. Her sense of humor and that laugh are legendary. She was strong-willed and sometimes opinionated, but a person could know where he stood with Becky Sones. She spent much of her adult life in the home in which she grew up, on the land farmed by her parents—a heritage of which she was very proud. It was a point of honor for her to tend to flowers and shrubs planted by her mother and to share them with whoever might ask for a cutting or a bulb. Just like the plants she nurtured, her legacy will live on.

She is survived by her two daughters: Sondra Sones of Forest and Judy Smith (Robert) of Morton; three grandsons: David Jones (Brittaney), Michael Jones (Ashley), and Allen Smith (Katie), one granddaughter Jessica Daniels; three great-grandchildren, and a host of nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her husband James V. Sones, her son Bart Sones, and her daughter Darhlene S. Jones, her parents Murphy and Eula May Bishop, and her siblings: Joseph V. Bishop, Janelle B. Sivils, Robbie B. Rodgers, Mattie Lou Brown, Ouida Pearce, Myrtle Beaver, and Murphy Driskell Bishop.