Katie Jean Townsend

Katie Hanna Townsend\ Jackson,MS\ \ Katie Hanna Townsend, 81, a resident of Park Place Manor Nursing Home in Belton, Texas died on July 4. Katie moved to Belton in 2006 to be near her son, Bill Townsend. Visitation is Monday evening from 5-7 pm, services will be at the Chancellor Funeral Home in Byram on Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. with burial to follow in Lakewood Memorial Park South. \ She was born Katie Jean Hanna on December 2, 1926 in Hampton, Arkansas. She graduated from El Dorado High School and worked for Pan American Oil Company. Katie married William Rex Townsend of El Dorado, Arkansas in 1949.After her only child was born she worked as a homemaker and mother in Monroe, Louisiana. Rex's job took Katie from North Louisiana back to South Arkansas, then to Georgia, Central Arkansas and finally to Jackson, Mississippi where she lived for nearly 40 years.\ Katie was heavily involved with her church, Daniel Memorial Baptist Church of Jackson, Mississippi, where she taught Sunday School, was active in the WMU, served on numerous committees, and volunteered for several years as an office worker. She was an inspiration to many during her life and will be remembered by many for her courage and determination in the face of crippling rheumatoid arthritis. \ She was preceded in death by her husband, Rex Townsend, and is survived by her only child, Bill Townsend, her daughter-in-law, Cindy Malone Townsend, and two grandchildren, Taylor Townsend and William Townsend III, all of Temple, Texas and Jackson, Mississippi. \ Memorials may be made to Mississippi College in Clinton, MS (www.mc.edu/giving). Online register book www.chancellorfuneralhome.com\ \