Iva Bondurant

Iva Dee Wiggins Bondurant at just over four months into her 104th year of life’s journey finally decided to answer the ring of the Golden Bells.  Iva Deed died peacefully in her sleep at her apartment at The Blake at Township (Assisted Living Home) in Ridgeland on Friday afternoon, September 25th.  She lived a long, happy, and fulfilled life and was a blessing and inspiration to all those who crossed her path on her earthly journey.

She was born at her home just outside of Laurel Hill in the southwest corner of Neshoba County, Mississippi, on May 14, 1916, the second child of Sarah Frances (Fannie) Parkes and Francis Marion Wiggins.  She was delivered by her uncle, Dr. Jim Parkes.  The family moved to Philadelphia in 1923, where Iva Dee grew up and graduated from high school.

She graduated from Mississippi Women’s College, now William Carey, and went to work with the Works Progress Administration when the country was still mired in the Great Depression.  She met John F. Bondurant from Masillon, Alabama, at the Southern Hotel in Forest and due to a supervisor at the WPA, who took an interest in her love life, Iva Dee just happened to be transferred to a WPA office near wherever John happened to be working.  John and Iva Dee were married at the First Baptist Church in Philadelphia on May 31, 1941.  When a Philadelphia neighbor was asked who Iva Dee was marrying, she replied, “It’s a funny sounding name.  It sounds something like japonica.”

From this union with the man with the funny sounding name that was to last 72½ years, two children were born, Dr. Sidney Wiggins Bondurant and Si Morgan Bondurant.  In 1955, John and Iva Dee moved to Forest, Mississippi, and it became their beloved home for the next 58 years.  Iva Dee worked periodically as a bookkeeper at John’s business, Automotive Wholesale, but she was primarily a homemaker.  John and Iva Dee were stalwart members of Forest United Methodist Church for all their years in Forest.  Iva Dee sang alto in the choir and taught an adult Sunday School class for over 50 years.  Iva Dee made friends wherever she was and never was known to have an enemy.  She was a gracious hostess who loved entertaining both friends and strangers.

She savored the small town memories of growing up in Philadelphia and 58 years of rearing a family in Forest. She was an unflinching proponent of the Christian life and was ready to be with her Lord in the resurrection to eternal life.

Iva Dee and John moved from Forest to The Blake in the fall of 2013, when John was 100 and Iva Dee was 97.  John passed away in December of 2013, but Iva Dee enjoyed seven happy years at The Blake where she made new friends and entertained old friends from Forest who regularly came to visit.  She played the piano at the Sunday worship service at The Blake into her 101st year when she relinquished that position.

Iva Dee was preceded in death by her husband John, her daughter-in-law Melissa Wilson Bondurant, her sister Lodine, and a host of other relatives and dear friends.  She is survived by her son Sid, Sid’s family, wife Aida, children Morgan and John Thomas, their wives Lauren and Liza, and Sid’s grandchildren Ava Catherine, Sidney Morgan, and Samuel, her son Si and his family, son Alexander and wife Whitney, and their children Silas and Frances Mae, and Si’s daughter Leigh Lorraine and husband Jay Jensen, her sisters Doris Wiggins Greer Mowrey and Mary Ann Wiggins Rector, two nephews and seven nieces, and a special friend Liz Taylor, who brought joy, comfort, and sincere companionship to Iva Dee during her last years at The Blake.

Due to the current COVID restrictions, a private graveside service will be held Monday, September 28th, at 11:00 a.m., at Eastern Cemetery in Forest.  The family requests that any memorials be made to the Choir Fund at Forest United Methodist Church, P.O. Box 68, Forest, Mississippi 39074.