Mary Kathryn Garrison Hemphill, retired plant clerk at South Central Cell, died Friday, May 11, 2018, at Brookdale in Oxford.  She was 90 years old.

The funeral service will be Monday, May 14, 2018, at 4 p.m. in the Chapel of Waller Funeral Home with Reverend Robert Allen officiating. Burial will follow in St. Peter’s Cemetery. Visitation will be prior to the service beginning at 2 p.m. at the funeral home.

A native of Lafayette County, Mrs. Hemphill was the widow or Mr. George Thomas Hemphill and retired from the telephone company after 39 years. She was a past officer of the Oxford Business and Professional Women’s Club where she was the 1979 recipient of the Woman of Achievement Award.

She was a member of the Alpha Chi chapter of Epsilon Sigma Alpha International serving in all state offices and receiving the Woman of the Year award in 1975.

She served as Southeastern Regional President of ESA, Past President of S.E.R.C. and on the board of ESA International Council.  She was a member of Telephone Pioneers of America, serving as President of Oxford Life Member Club and as Life Member Representative for the Northern section of the state.

Mrs. Hemphill was named South Central Bell Employee Citizen of the Year in 1983 and Life Member Pioneer of the Year for the state in 1998.  In 1980, she served on the Oxford-Lafayette County Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and as Secretary of Oxford-Lafayette Historic Homes.

Additionally, she was a member of Centennial Study Club, Oxford Artists Guild and numerous other community and local civic organizations.

She was elected Election Commissioner of District 2 in 1992 and served 22 terms until 2014.

A member of First Baptist Church, she taught Sunday School for 38 years.

In addition to her husband, she was preceded in death by her parents, Grace Alvis and Dan Webster Garrison; two brothers, Billy and Jim Garrison and a sister, Pat James.

Survivors include her son, Danny Hemphill and his wife, Debra of Oxford; four grandchildren, Brandy Bryant and her husband, Jason of Pearl, Mississippi, Dusty Hemphill and his wife, Claire of Atlanta, Taylor Hemphill of Florence, Mississippi and Tyler Hemphill of Georgetown, Mississippi and five great-grandchildren, Blake and Katie Grace Bryant, Peyton and Rori Hemphill and Braxten Sasser.

Memorial contributions in Mrs. Hemphill’s memory may be made to First Baptist Church, 800 Van Buren Avenue, Oxford, MS 38655.

For further information, please visit www.wallerfuneralhome.com or call 662.234.7971.