"Janna" Margery Bridges

“Janna” Margery Anna Edmondson Bridges
Our mama was born on December 27, 1944 and was finally able to rest on April 13, 2018, a Friday. She lived every one of those days with a giving spirit that only those that knew her can appreciate.

I wish our mama had written this. Her version would have been creative and beautifully stated.

If she had written this she would have never told you what an amazingly kind and unique daughter, sister, mama, grandmother and person she was in this life. She wouldn’t have told you that she was the kindest soul we’ve ever known or that her happiness came strictly from the happiness of others. She wouldn’t have told you because she thought of everyone else first. She may have mentioned her sarcastic sense of humor and definitely would have said how much she loved us and her friends and pets. Janna, or Janma to her grandchildren, would have written something simple and most likely quoted a Leonard Cohen song. We will do our best to capture a tiny fragment of our mama in the confines of this space.

Janna was the oldest of nine children; Lisa Elrod, Hayden Edmondson, Neal Edmondson, Andrea Turman, Markley Quirk, Terrell Callahan, Laurin Ferguson and Kathy Ray. Janna was strikingly beautiful with the kindest heart and most giving soul that we have ever known. She is the daughter of Doris Virginia Knoblock Edmondson and niece of Mary Katherine Knoblock Loyacano McCravey.

Mama had wonderful friends that were incredibly dear to her; Jennifer Hayes, who was more like a sister to mama, Phillip Holley, Debra Boswell, Mark Player, Carolyn Switzer and Cindy Bailey to name a few. She was born in Jackson, Mississippi and spent most of her youth in Forest, Mississippi with her “favorite person in the world”, her grandfather, Reuben Julius Knoblock. They spent time walking and exploring nature, reading, target shooting her .22 long rifle and finding and caring for stray or injured animals. She was an amazing marksman. Thanks to her grandfather.

Janna graduated from Forest High School and Belhaven College. She finished with a double major in history a little by accident. She loved her professor and the subject of history to such a degree that she continued to register for more classes.

Janna spent time doing many things that she loved. Caring for and rehabilitating animals, of any and all kinds, was her true love. She volunteered with the Mississippi Animal Rescue League for over 32 years.  She gave her heart to every animal she met. She had a special gift for caring for those animals most in need and the people as well. She loved to help make the perfect match between an animal and their new family. Janna was a big part of the M.A.R.L. family. Debra Boswell, the director of the league and life-long friend, said they couldn’t imagine their Sunday afternoons with her and that Janna was a “true angel on earth for all God’s creatures.

Mama loved us, her children and grandchildren beyond measure. Two daughters Domini Allison Bridges Bradford and Kelly Anna Bridges Howard and respectively two grandchildren; Clara Maxfield Bradford of Jackson, Mississippi and Michael Austin Reuben Howard, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She was a wonderful mama and grandmother. She took us to musicals, read to our classes in elementary school, brought animals to share with an educate our classes. Mama told anyone that would listen about all of us and elaborated on the pride she had for each. She called us her “girls” when she would speak of us. Mama’s love for her grand children is endless. She loved seeing both of them happy and always felt the need to bring them some special gift that she had found that she knew fit them perfectly. It was never something expensive monetarily but was always something from her heart. In kind Maxfield and Austin had a special bond with her. Austin wrote papers about her in college that elaborated on her special gifts and how unique she was from anyone else he has ever known.

She loved music, especially Leonard Cohen and John Prine. She loved art, museums, traveling to new places, cotton candy, making blankets for animals and people in need, old cemeteries, coral lipstick and toe nail polish, seeing Maxfield and Austin be happy, broken Christmas ornaments, poetry, writing, historical ruins, old houses, reading true crime and historical books, red leather shoes, her daughter Domini’s amazing vegetarian cooking- especially since our mama was a terrible cook- and loved to joke about it, going out to eat with and spending time with her best friend Jennifer, long drives, growing plants from seeds, train rides and serving others. She was brave, strong, sweet, kind, loving, compassionate, selfless, giving.

Mama sewed beautifully. The most memorable Halloween costumes we had were hand made by mama. She was proud to make them for both of us and her grandchildren. Janna made hundreds of blankets for animals at M.A.R.L. and for many homeless shelters.

Mama stood up for those that had no voice and fought for compassion and change. She refused to be silent when others chose to ignore the mistreatment of people around her. She made a difference. She was passionate about donating books and reading glasses to those who are incarcerated.

Many people have reached out to us to let us know what a special person mama was to them. We know there are people that our mama touched that we will never know about. That is how she wanted her gifts of time and service to be, discreet. Everything mama did, for others, was from her heart with no strings attached. Happiness of those she loved was her source of joy.

This allotted space can never explain our mama or the feeling of loss we have for her. We are thankful, every minute of every day, that she is our mama. She loved us deeply. She wasn’t ready to go but her sweet body thought differently.

I John 3:18 - My little children, let us not live in the word, nor in tongue, but in deed and in truth.

Rest now, mama. We love you and know you love us too.

In lieu of flowers please consider a donation, in her memory, to the Mississippi Animal Rescue League

5221 Greenway Dr Extension, Jackson, MS 39204   (601-969-1631)   http://www.msarl.org/