Joann Stephens

Mrs. Joann W. "Jody" Stephens, age 76, of Ocean Springs, MS, died Sunday, May 8, 2011 in Ocean Springs. Jody was born in Bessemer, Alabama and graduated from MacAdory High School in 1952. She went on to business college before working in the banking/financial industry. She married Kenneth in 1953 and joined him in San Diego, CA while he completed his commitment to the US Navy. In 1956, they returned to Bessemer, AL. and Lisa was born there. After a short time the family moved to Orlando, FL where Ken was employed and Jody was now a Domestic Engineer. In 1965 , Jodi was born and the family moved to Huntsville, AL where Ken was now employed by IBM. In 1968, the family moved to Owego, NY by IBM. The next twenty seven years were filled with raising the two daughters while taking many temporary assignments for IBM which included many stays along the Gulf Coast and Europe. After thirty years of I Been Moved (AKA IBM) and daughters making their own way, Ken and Jody retired and settled in Ocean Springs, MS in the Gulf Hills community where they have lived for the last fifteen years. Jody was a mother figure, confidant and spiritual inspiration to many women and men over her life time. Always when asked of the secret to our long marriage "we never owned a gun" was the reply. Jody never knew a stranger and always started her conversations with someone whom she did not know with "Is everyone being nice to you?' and ended with "Make everyone be nice to you!" She viewed life as SUPERTERRIFIC! Her light will be missed. Jody is preceded in death by her father Dewey Wallace; mother, Jessie Wallace; sisters, Francis Jennean Eddings and Leigh Powell. Survivors include her husband of 57 years Kenneth P. Stephens, daughters, Lisa Lydston and Jody Lindhorst; beloved son-in-law Brian Lindhorst along with grandsons, Zachary Lydston, Grant Lindhorst and Quintan Lindhorst; niece, Dayle Zazzalli and nephew, William Eddings, Jr., and half-brother, Richard Link. The family would like to express their gratitude to the staff of Ocean Springs Hospital, Hospice of Light and in particular, Shekindah Wallace and Shonda Matthews for their compassionate and gentle hands while caring for Jody. We would like to thank Dr. Harry B. Heitzman for his long care and friendship, Dr. James Clarkson for his care which led to a breast cancer survivor of fourteen years, and Dr. Lydia Latour, her oncologist and hospice physician. We would also like to thank the neighbors on Prado Road as well as a special friend and love, Deede Torrance. In lieu of a memorial service, the family requests you remember Jody with the contributions to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN, 38105. The Ocean Springs Chapel of Bradford O'Keefe Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.