Virginia Nell Brown Pepper

Virginia Brown "Ginger"  Pepper, 73, of Cleveland, passed away on Tuesday,  September 18, 2018, peacefully at her home. Visitation will begin at 10:00 Thursday, September 20, 2018, at First United Methodist Church. A Celebration of Life Service will follow beginning at 11:00 a.m. at First United Methodist Church with Rev. Will Wilkerson officiating. Interment will be in North Cleveland Cemetery.
Virginia Brown Pepper, known as Ginger to her many friends, was born on May 10, 1945, in Colorado Springs, CO. She was the only child of Julian Hamilton Brown and Virginia Thomas Brown, both now deceased.
Ginger grew up in Jackson, MS, graduating from Provine High School in 1963. She continued her education at the University of Mississippi receiving a Bachelor of Arts in Education Degree in 1967. While at Ole Miss she was a member of the University Dancers, the staff of the Daily Mississippian, and the Panhellenic Council.  She was also a member of the Kappa Delta sorority. It was at Ole Miss that she met her future husband, Allen Pepper. On August 24, 1967, they married at Jackson's Alta Woods United Methodist Church, which was organized in her parents' home and of which she was a Charter Member.
After a year in Oxford, MS, where her husband completed his law degree, they moved to Cleveland, MS, where they made their home. During this time, Mrs. Pepper furthered her education by receiving a Master of Arts degree in Education from Delta State University in 1972.
As an educator, she taught in the Cleveland Public Schools and the Presbyterian Day School for a number of years. Always an advocate of early childhood education, she served as Chairman of the Kindergarten Board of the First United Methodist Church and as an organizer of its Mother's Morning Out Program.
In the community, she pursued her interest in children's issues by serving in the Cleveland Junior Auxiliary, of which she was a lifetime Member.
Mrs. Pepper was on the Delta State University Foundation Board and was the first woman elected as President of the University of Mississippi Bolivar County Chapter of the Alumni Association. She has been President of the Delta Home and Garden Club, the Cleveland Woman's Club, Bolivar County Friends of the Library System and the Kappa Delta Alumni Association.
An active member of First United Methodist Church of Cleveland, she was a member of the choir and a member of various service committees of the church. She was especially proud to have been a member of the Renovation Committee that saw the restoration and transformation of the 1915 Sanctuary.
She enjoyed bridge and snow skiing with her family in Colorado. Ginger was the proud mother of a son, Will Pepper.
She is preceded in death by her husband, Judge William Allen Pepper, Jr., and her parents.
Ginger is survived by her son, Dr. William Allen Pepper III and his wife, Samantha, of Oxford; sister-in-law and brother-in-law, Louanne and George Payne Cossar of Charleston, MS, and their children and grandchildren.
Pallbearers will be Dr. Butch Caston, Mike Sanders, Beau Gregory, Mayor Billy Nowell, Dr. Kent Wyatt, Dr. Jim Steen, and Billy Hardin.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations made to the First United Methodist Church or the charity of the donor's choice.

Visitation

10:00 am - 11:00 am Thursday, September 20, 2018
First United Methodist Church 318 S Court Street Cleveland, Mississippi, United States

Celebration of Life Service

11:00 am - 12:00 am Thursday, September 20, 2018
First United Methodist Church 318 S Court Street Cleveland, Mississippi, United States

Interment

12:00 pm - 1:00 pm Thursday, September 20, 2018
North Cleveland Cemetery. N Bayou Cleveland, Mississippi, United States