Marvin Evelyn Purnell Nickerson

Marvin Evelyn Purnell Nickerson, known to most as Evelyn and to close family as “Marv,” passed away quietly at her home in Gulfport during the morning hours of September 2, 2024. She was 82 years old. Throughout her life, Evelyn personified both the values of Christian love and charity and the importance of community, citizenship, and education.

Evelyn was born on August 17, 1942, in Austin, Texas. Her parents, Hawes and Lula Tuma Purnell, moved the young family to Vincennes, Indiana, four years later, where her father took a job as superintendent of the natural gas company.

She had three siblings including the late Richard Hawes Purnell, a veteran Navy officer and graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy; the late Catherine V. Kilgore, a Civil Rights attorney and law professor at the University of Mississippi Law School, and Rev. George Purnell, a minister in the United Methodist Church, who currently lives and preaches in Evansville, Indiana.

Their father Hawes Purnell died suddenly in January 1959, and Evelyn served a pivotal role in raising her siblings and providing stability to the family when their mother was forced to return to the workforce.

Evelyn graduated from Lincoln High School in 1960, and matriculated to Mississippi State University, her father’s alma mater, where she earned her BA in English Literature. She later earned a master’s degree from the University of Southern Mississippi, taking night classes to do so while teaching full time and raising her family.

Other than a brief stint in the Miami, Fla., area, Evelyn lived most of her adult life on her beloved Mississippi Gulf Coast and taught middle and high school English in the Biloxi, Harrison County and St. Martin Schools for more than 30 years. She also worked for several years as a chemist at the Chemours production facility in DeLisle, Mississippi. Teaching was her true passion, introducing students to the beauty and power of the English language, and nothing was more satisfying to her than when she was approached fondly by former students now well into their adulthood.

She was a longtime member and Board Director at First Christian Church in Gulfport, where she met her husband of three decades Maurice “Nick” Nickerson. She was a person of strong faith, and loved to tell the story of how her favorite prayer book survived Hurricane Katrina resting on the top of her floating dining room table even when the rest of her and Nick’s house was destroyed by flooding. Evelyn’s colleagues, fellow congregants and friends all remember her as ever friendly, generous, and supportive.

Evelyn was an avid reader, both the classics of literature (including her favorites, Shakespeare and Charles Dickens) and also genre fiction such as mysteries and thrillers. She read widely, sometimes taking a fancy to obscure international authors and working through their entire body of work. She loved spiritual music and church hymns, as well as the pop music of her era (particularly Elvis). In her later years, she also became a devotee of Premier League Soccer, and she could discuss her favorite teams and players in detail. She was also a world-class conversationalist and loved nothing better than to sit down with friends and family over a cup of coffee to discuss their personal lives or the great questions of the day.

Evelyn is survived by her husband Maurice Nickerson, who was by her side throughout her illness, as well as her maternal aunt Geraldine Offield of Rockdale, Texas, her brother Rev. Dr. George (Joyce) Purnell of Evansville, Indiana, her daughter Antonia (Andrew) Barstow of Gulfport, Mississippi, her son Steven (Abby) White of Portland, Oregon, and three grandchildren, Emmet White, Zoe White and Taylor Ford. She is also survived by her step-children Robin (Greg) Fox, Doug (Jan) Nickerson, Bryan (Dee Dee) Nickerson, and Amanda (Kole) Snodgrass and step-grandchildren Whitney Hammons, Shea Hammons, Michael Hammons, Crysta Jo Nickerson, Kristen Nickerson, Matthew Nickerson, Bryanna Nickerson, Sebastian Snodgrass, Bray Snodgrass, Holden Snodgrass.

Evelyn will be dearly missed by family and friends. May she rest in God’s peace.

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, September 7, 2024 at 11:00am at Bradford-O’Keefe Funeral Home, 15th Street, Gulfport, where friends may visit one hour before the service. 

Bradford-O’Keefe Funeral Home, 15th Street, Gulfport is honored to serve the family of Mrs. Marvin Evelyn Purnell Nickerson.