Funeral services for Minnette Delores Rooks will be Saturday, Jan. 9, 2021, at 2 p.m. at the Greater Grove St. M.B. Church, 2715 Alcorn Drive, with Rev. Dr. Michael Reed officiating. Interment will follow at Cedar Hill Cemetery. 

Visitation will be held Friday, Jan. 8, 2021, at W.H. Jefferson Funeral Home with strict social guidelines enforced and facial coverings required while inside the building.  

Minnette Delores Rooks passed away on Dec. 30, 2020, at Forrest General Hospital in Hattiesburg following a brief illness. She was 77.

She was retired from Batesville Casket Co. and was a member of the Rock of Ages M.B. Church.  

She was preceded in death by her parents, Fredrick and Georgia Washington Rooks.  

She graduated from Rosa A Temple High School in 1961, where she was a member of the basketball team, Glee Club, choir, Home Economics Club and others.

Mrs. Rooks retired from Batesville Casket Company after numerous years of service. At Batesville, she had an instrumental leadership role in organizing the Employees Workers Union. She was a gifted leader among the employees, which also spanned throughout her church and community.  

Mrs. Rooks is survived by her four sons, Gerald (Bernice) Rooks of New Orleans, Anthony (Ursel Tanja) Rooks of Eppstien, Germany, Kevin Rooks of Hattiesburg and Christopher (Rocio Eneida) Rooks of Suffolk, Va.; three sisters, Shirley Ruth (Roosevelt) Buie of Chicago, Barbara Jean (Rudolph) Jackson of Jackson and June Marie Rooks of Ridgecrest, Calif.; a brother, Fredrick Rooks of Vicksburg; six grandchildren; and a host of cousins nieces, nephews and friends.