Kathryn L. Hensarling

Kathryn Wilson Hensarling of Terry, MS passed peacefully at St. Dominic Hospital on Sunday, October 22, 2023. She was surrounded by family.

Kathryn, known as “Kitty” to friends and family, was born February 27, 1929 in Brookhaven, MS. She grew up on a farm in Brookhaven. Though she was not fond of it, she did pick her share of cotton. After graduating from Enterprise High School, Brookhaven, she attended Millsaps College with a major in sociology.

While a student at Millsaps, she met her future husband who was on staff at the Jackson Daily News. She and Kin were married on April 7, 1951. They were the first couple to wed in what was then the new Fitzhugh Chapel at Millsaps. To that marriage were born four children.

Kin and Kitty made their home in Jackson for twenty-six years. They moved to Vicksburg, MS in 1977. Upon retirement in 1994, they built and moved to their retirement home on farm property in Terry, MS.

Kitty had a knack for bookkeeping and worked for many years in that area at Sears Roebuck and T.G. & Y. She retired after a long career with the State of Mississippi working for the Department of Disability Determination Services.

She worked the garden tirelessly alongside her husband and was known for all the freezing and canning she did each summer. She was an excellent cook and when raising her family made sure there were always three hot meals a day.

A cradle Methodist, she raised her children in Sunday School and church at Forest Hill United Methodist where she taught the Crusaders Class for ten years. For the last thirty years she was an active member of Crystal Springs United Methodist Church.

Anyone who knew Kitty, knew she had the “gift of gab.” She was never at a loss for words and it was often difficult to get a word in. However, this was an expression of how much she loved and enjoyed people and spending time in conversation with friends and family.

Animals loved her and she loved them. She adored her beloved cats and dogs, especially her feist, “Little Bit,” who we are certain met her at the gates on Sunday afternoon.

We are grateful to have had her fun, loving and attentive presence for ninety-four years and will miss her dearly. 

She is preceded in death by her husband, Kin Hensarling, her son, Dale, her parents B.B. and

Lexie Wilson, and her brother, Frank, and his wife, Jean. She leaves to cherish her memory a son, Gary, and wife Jane of San Antonio, a daughter, Diane Russell, and husband Herschel, of Terry, and a daughter, Heather, of Columbia. Grandchildren, Amy Voeller (Jim) of San Antonio, Kevin Russell (Tabatha) of Pearl, Lindsey Fain (Richard) of Florence, and Rebekah Salazar (Manrique) of Cicero, IL. She also leaves behind her dear friend Don Lee. Additionally, she leaves behind eleven great-grandchildren and a host of nieces and nephews.