ADA CECILE (JIMMIE) RODRIGUE OBITUARY

November 14, 1920 – March 21, 2022

Ada Cecile "Jimmie" Rodrigue died on March 21, 2022.  She was born on November 14, 1920, in Edgard, Louisiana. She was the youngest of nine children born to Ada Champagne Rodrigue and Pierre Honorat Rodrigue, and moved to McComb, MS, from Pascagoula, MS with her family.  A 1937 graduate of McComb High School, she began her working career as a bookkeeper for the Williams Grocery Company in McComb. She later studied accounting, driving to Hattiesburg to take courses at The University of Southern Mississippi.  She  became a Certified Public Accountant, maintaining her license and operating her own office until age 93.

She enjoyed being with her family and during her lifetime was a source of solace, support and caregiving for her parents and her sisters Edina and Teresa, and for her dear friend, Patsy Rooney. She loved to travel and organized many vacation trips with her sisters and friends, often driving across to Texas for a short visit, or taking longer road trips to visit national parks or to visit friends and family whose lives had taken them away from McComb.

A devout Catholic, Jimmie was a faithful parishioner at St. Alphonsus Catholic Church, where she served on the Parish Council, held membership in the National and Diocesan Councils of Catholic Women and for several years, aided in the religious education of the children of the parish.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Ada Champagne Rodrigue and Pierre Honorat Rodrigue and by her eight siblings: Lucille Rodrigue Tassin, Vivian Rodrigue Skolaski, Richard, Stan, Angelo, Peter, Edina, and Teresa Rodrigue, and by her friend, Sarah (Patsy) Rooney.

Among her many surviving nephews and nieces, Pete Rodrigue, Carolyn Skolaski Hill, Susan Rodrigue Nunnery, Lauren Rodrigue and Jennifer Rodrigue Rapstine share memories of visits with Aunt Jimmie and recall being in her home and at Roncalli, the cabin at Percy Quinn State Park, to share meals and holidays. Others who might have been without family were included to share the generous hospitality of Roncalli at Thanksgiving and other holidays.

There are numerous great nephews and great nieces (including her namesake, Ada George) who share the fond remembrance of their kind and loving aunt. Her selflessness, generosity, devotion to duty, endless patience and quick wit remain an inspiration for all. She used to say, "Don't worry too much about what you'll do when (some future) something happens. When it happens, you'll know what to do." Words of wisdom. "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

...do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the day's own trouble be sufficient for the day."

A Visitation will be held on Saturday, March 26, 2022 from 9:30AM until time of Mass at 10:30AM at St. Alphonsus Catholic Church in McComb, MS with Sharkey Funeral Home in charge of arrangements. A burial will follow in the Hollywood Cemetery.

Her family offers heartfelt thanks and love to her friend and generous helper, Kathy Albritton, who helped ease her through her final years with loyal attentiveness and caring.

The family also wishes to thank her caregivers, Kathy Austin, Patricia Woods, Linda Murray, and Lydia Martin. Their years of caring service were a balm to Jimmie in her final years.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her name to St. Alphonsus Catholic Church.