Dahlia P. Boone

Dahlia P. Boone, USMC, passed away on July 16, 2007, at the age of 85 in Biloxi, MS. She was a native of South Mississippi and a longtime resident of Ocean Springs. She resided at the Home for Retired Veterans in Gulfport until being evacuated to Washington D.C. during Hurricane Katrina and then brought back to Ocean Springs in September of 2006. She was a member of the First Baptist Church of Ocean Springs and a former member of Belle Fountain Baptist Church. Dahlia was a World War II Veteran and stationed on the West Coast where she was an airplane mechanic and worked on the Corsair F4U Fighter planes. After the war, she returned to Pearl River County, married Daniel Travis Boone, Jr. and attended USM in Hattiesburg where she earned her B.S. Degree and then taught school in Pearl River County, East Central and St. Martin. As an educator in Earth Science and as a Sunday School teacher (for over 50 years) she taught her children about God, the value of a formal education, a respect for nature-and that the right side of an issue is not always the most popular side. She was an avid gardener and advocate for wildlife. Independent and adventurous she traveled to Europe in her mid-seventies and was always eager to travel to new places and meet new friends. Dahlia was preceded in death by her husband, Daniel Travis Boone, Jr., and her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Boyd Penton. Survivors include her children, Daniel Travis Boone III of Biloxi, MS., her two daughters, Rebecca Alston of New York and Susie Reed of Ocean Springs, MS., and her granddaughter, Angela Alston-Ross of Ocean Springs. Visitation will be on Wednesday, July 18, 2007, from 6-8 PM, at the Ocean Springs Chapel of Bradford O'Keefe Funeral Home on Porter Avenue. On Thursday, July 19, 2007, there will be a 9:30 AM chapel service in the funeral home. Burial will follow at Biloxi National Cemetery. If preferred, donations can be made to The Disabled Veterans organization or to Defenders of Wildlife, two of Dahlia's favorite charities.