Sudie Jean Holder of Clinton, Mississippi, died peacefully, on Monday, March 27th after a short illness.  Visitation will  be on Wednesday, March 29, from 5-7 p. m., at Wright and Ferguson Funeral Home in Clinton, Mississippi.  Services will be held on Thursday, March 30, with a visitation from 9-10 a.m., followed by a service at 10:00 a.m., at the funeral home.  Burial will be at Flora Cemetery.  In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in her memory to Parkway Baptist Church in Clinton, MS.

Sudie was born in Sandersville, Mississippi on January 15, 1940 to Ella and Grady Patrick.  She was the youngest of three older brothers, Jack, Wayne, and John and sister, Viola.  A graduate of Sandersville High School in 1959, Sudie met her future husband, Marlyn Holder there.  On October 13th, 1961, she married Marlyn. One year later on October 21, 1962, she welcomed their first son, Don.  Another son, Ivan, was born two years later.  In 1964, the young family left their relatives and friends to make a new home in Jackson, Mississippi.  In 1968, the last addition to their family, a daughter, Marilyn, was born.

The Holders began attending Emmanuel Baptist church, in Jackson, where they established life-long friends.  After leaving Emmanuel and searching for a church home, they visited and joined Parkway Baptist Church, in Jackson (the church later relocated to Clinton where the Holders had moved).  In the Parkway Church they found a new church home where they have remained active members for more than forty-five years.  It was here that Sudie became a faithful member serving the Lord alongside her church family—more recently she has been a member of  Katherine Webster's Sunday school class in which she created lasting friendships.

Sudie developed a variety of artistic hobbies though the years.  She began painting woodwork that her husband cut for her.  Determined, she learned how to saw the wood herself becoming self sufficient cutting patterns on a wood saw.  She began selling her crafts at shows and fairs and what she failed to sell, some of these became ornaments that adorned the Holders' yard during Christmas.  Sudie's most recent artistic hobbies included adult coloring books, in which she spent hours patiently crafting her art.  Beyond this,  she developed an interest in water color painting.   Every holiday, her family was especially blessed with her secret recipe for home made cornbread dressing—the secret for how delicious it was might have been Marlyn's fresh ground cornmeal.

Spring and summer were her favorite times of year.  She enjoyed watching flowers bloom; her favorite was a variety, Knock-Out roses.   Watching birds gather to feed proved to be a favorite pastime.  In the summers, along with her loyal poodle, Molly, Sudie greeted friends and family who came to pick blueberries and gather tomatoes at her home.  Fall gave her the opportunity to prepare a large pot of soup along with biscuits for those who helped Marlyn make molasses.

Sudie is survived by her husband of sixty-one years, Marlyn, and her three children:  son, Don (Tammy) Holder of Tuscumbia, Alabama; son, Ivan Holder of Flora; daughter, Marilyn Murphy (Paul) of Denton, Texas.  She was "Grandma" to seven grandchildren and 3 three great grandchildren;  Casey (Holly) and Brady (Anna) Holder, Christopher (Jennifer) and Daniel (Rebekah) Holder, Mallory and Keegan Murphy, Myranda (Tyler) Gean and Great Grandchildren, Brooks, Harper and Nash Holder.   Sudie had many special friends including Bobbie, Robert, Brooke and Parker Ware, and Patricia Holder (mother of Daniel and Christopher Holder).  In addition, many church friends will forever keep her in their memory.

Sudie was proceeded in death by her parents, Grady and Ella Patrick; her brothers and sister, Jack, Wayne, John and Viola along with two previous poodles she adored, Ping and Angel.

Pallbearers include:  Sudie Holder's sons Don and Ivan along with her grandsons, Casey, Christopher, Daniel Holder and Keegan Murphy.