Mary Joyce Pou

Graveside services for Joyce Pou will be held Sunday, May 24, 2020, at 2:00 p.m. from Coy Community Cemetery in Preston with Rev. Curt Pace officiating. McClain-Hays Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. Mrs. Pou, 87, of Philadelphia, died Friday, May 22, 2020, at Baptist Medical Center in Jackson. She was born and raised in the Coy Community of Neshoba County where she was a standout basketball player for Prince Chapel High School and later completed her education at East Mississippi Junior College. Mrs. Pou and her husband, Junior, moved to the Zephyr Hill Community of Philadelphia, MS, in 1968, and spent the rest of their lives there raising a family and starting a very successful business from the ground up in 1971, “The Pow-Wow Drive Inn Restaurant”, until they sold it and retired in 1986. Joyce was a member of New Black Jack Baptist Church located on the Pearl River Indian Reservation. Survivors include her children, Mike (Cheryl) Jerrell of Philadelphia, MS, Joe Pou of Memphis, TN, and Sherry Manning of Philadelphia, MS; grandchildren, JJ Manning, James Louis Manning(Chaney) and Jessie Lee Jerrell; great-grandchildren, Cappi and JoJo Manning; and sister, Joan Marsden of Tampa, FL. Mrs. Pou was preceded in death by husband, Louis L. Pou, Jr.; son, Thomas Harrison Pou; son-in-law, Jerome Manning; parents, Arthur and Ruth Cook; brother, Royce Cook. Pallbearers are JJ Manning, James Louis Manning, Jessie Lee Jerrell, Jimmie Joe Duncan, Colt Duncan, and Nicky Charlie. Honorary pallbearers are Coach Walter Wilson and Johnny Hollingsworth.