Mississippi, Greenwood - JESSYE EVANS ROBERSON. Services for Mrs. Roberson, who died Tuesday February 12, 2008 at her home in Greenwood after an extended illness, will be held at 11 a.m. Friday, February 15 at Wilson & Knight Funeral Home, with burial to follow in Odd Fellows Cemetery. Visitation will be Friday, February 15 at 10 a.m. at Wilson & Knight Funeral Home. Dr Rusty Douglas will officiate the services. Mrs. Roberson was born on April 30, 1918, to Howard McTyere and Jessie West Evans in Greenwood. She was a graduate of Greenwood High School and attended the University of Mississippi, where she was affiliated with Chi Omega Sorority. She married B.J. Roberson of Minter City, and for sixty years lived on their beloved Belle Chase Plantation, giving her time to the Minter City Methodist Church, Greenwood Garden Club, Plantation Garden Club, Early Settlers and D.A.R. She was also an accomplished artist and gardener, painting the varied landscapes found at Belle Chase and adding to its beauty through her plantings. In her later years, her grandchildren and great-grand-children were the center of her world. She was preceded in death by her husband, William James "BJ" Roberson; her granddaughter, Elizabeth Gage "Beth" Roberson; a sister, Mary Olive Bartling; and a brother, Howard M. Evans, Jr. She is survived by her daughter, Pam Robbins and her husband, Dr. Jim Robbins, of Greenwood; son, William H. Roberson of Memphis; and sisters, Sara Criss and Patricia Evans, both of Greenwood. She is also survived by her grandsons, Steele Robbins IV of Minter City and Marion Roberson of Vicksburg, and her granddaughter, Kathleen Robbins-Madden of Columbia, South Carolina. Her great-grandchildren, Steele Robbins V, Charlie Robbins and Maggie Roberson also survive her. Five devoted caregivers have been a special part of her family for many years. Jessye's artistic spirit is evident in a 1985 diary entry, describing the gingko tree in her yard at Belle Chase: "After a period of November, brief blaze of color, it loses its leaves quickly, dropping them in a gold circle-like carpet almost, within an hour's time. Like life, one barely has time to appreciate the beauty before it is gone. We are so fragile. I am reminded each day -- in many ways-our happiest moments concerned the simplest things-like the gingko tree. God speaks to us and sometimes we listen." Memorials may be made to the "Beth Roberson-Kathryn Pittman Memorial Courtyard" at Pillow Academy, 69601 Highway 82 West, Greenwood Ms, 38930, or to the Minter City United Methodist Church, c/o Mrs. Belva Pleasants, Rt. 1, Box 170, Minter City, MS, 38944. Wilson & Knight Funeral Home 662-453-3636 (Published in The Commercial Appeal on 2/14/2008.)