E. Jean Phillips-Hudson died Sunday, Dec. 13, 2015. She was 74.

She was born April 21, 1941, in Edwards, to Chester and Eva Phillips. She attended school in Edwards and graduated from William Holtzclaw High School in Utica, and attended Utica Junior College for two years.

She was one of the incorporators of the Delta Resources Committee, joining the staff as bookkeeper at the request of the late Jake Ayers. In 1965, she joined and became involved in the Civil Rights Movement at Mount Beulah. She later worked as a staff member for then-Congressman Mike Espy and at the time of her death she was employed by the USDA as EEO assistant and civil rights coordinator.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Frank Raymond Hudson; her parents, Chester and Eva Phillips; and brothers, Jasper Phillips and James “JW” Richardson.

Survivors include her sisters, Mary Irving, Alice Irving and Deborah Ross of Chicago; five nieces; and five nephews; and great-nieces and nephew, other relatives and friends.

Services are 11 a.m. today, Dec. 19, 2015, at St. Mark Missionary Baptist Church in Edwards, with pastor Jerry Collier officiating. Burial will be at Greenhill Cemetery in Edwards under the direction of Willis and Sons Funeral Home of Jackson.

Pallbearers will be Broderick Barnes, Eddie C. Palmer, Derrick Barnes, Leon Phillips, Derrion Barnes and Michael Robinson. Honorary Pallbearers are Mayor Lawrence Butler, Wilson Murray Jr., Roosevelt Beechem, the Rev. Roger Smith, Mike Espy, Michael Suttlar and Congressman Bennie G. Thompson.