Printed in the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, Tupelo, Mississippi dated Thursday, September 30, 2004

CLEVELAND - Leila Lyle Wilkinson Underhill, 85, died Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2004, at Bolivar Medical Center in Cleveland. She was born July 29, 1919, in Bolivar County to William Thomas Wilkinson and Leila Lyle Martin Wilkinson. She graduated from Gunnison High School and Delta State Teachers College, and received her master's degree from Mississippi State University. She taught school in Drew, Benoit, Greenville, Belzoni, Natchez, Tupelo and Cleveland. She retired from teaching math at Delta State University. She was a member of the First United Methodist Church, where she was a former board member, Sunday school teacher, Circle chairman, and vice president of the United Methodist Women. She was a member and former treasurer of the Mississippi Delta Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution; president of the Mattie Lou Neal Luncheon Group; past president of the Delta State University Alumni Association; and first president of the DSU Golden Circle Alumni.

Services will be at 2 p.m. today at the First United Methodist Church with the Rev. Billy Owen officiating. Burial will follow in New Cleveland Cemetery. Ray Funeral Home of Cleveland is in charge of the arrangements.

Survivors include a daughter, Kathie Underhill Jones of Cleveland; two sons, Tom Underhill of Leland and Bill Underhill of Shreveport, La.; five grandsons, George Moore of Houston, Texas, Jim Underhill of Gulfport, Bill Jones of Cleveland, and Aubrey Underhill and Ashby Underhill of Shreveport; two sisters, Mary Wilkinson Cole of Richmond, Va., and Sally Wilkinson Hobbs of Orange Beach, Ala.

She was preceded in death by her parents; a brother, Billy Wilkinson; and a grandson.

Memorials may be made to the Delta State Alumni Foundation, the First United Methodist Church or a charity of the donor's choice.

Contributor:

Barbara Wiley Hamby - [email protected]