Vallie Prestridge

Vallie Clark Prestridge, 84, slipped away peacefully at St. Dominic Hospital on February 29, 2024 in the late afternoon surrounded by her family. Visitation will be 5pm-7pm Monday at Stringer Family Funeral Home in Hazlehurst and 10am-11am Tuesday at First Presbyterian Church Hazlehurst. The service will be 11am Tuesday at First Presbyterian Church with burial at Hazlehurst Cemetery. Vallie was the daughter of Ernest and Ethel Carraway Clark of Smithdale, Ms. She was born November 20, 1939. She graduated from Mars Hill High School in 1957 and married Edmund (Buddy) Prestridge in 1958. Vallie and Buddy lived and started their family on Westview Circle in McComb, where Buddy worked for Mechanics State Bank, and Vallie worked for Day Motors. The neighbors from McComb have remained lifelong friends to them both. While in McComb, she was active in J.J. White Memorial Presbyterian Church and was a member of the Junior Auxiliary. In 1976, they moved to Hazlehurst, Ms. Vallie attended Co-lin Junior College and the University of Southern Mississippi from 1977 until she graduated in 1981 with a BA in speech pathology. As a full time student and wife and mother, she commuted from Hazlehurst to USM, where she excelled in her classes. After graduating, Vallie worked for the Hazlehurst Public Schools and the Crystal Springs Public Schools retiring in 2002. Her love for and dedication to her students made an impact on each and every one of them. Vallie was a faithful and active member of the First Presbyterian Church of Hazlehurst. If the church doors were open, she was there. She decorated tables, fed visiting pastors, and delivered meals to people who needed them. She was tireless in her service to the church and its people. She held many positions with the Women of the Church and was active locally as well as regionally. Her great love for her children and her grandchildren showed through her devotion to them. She never missed a ballgame or a birthday or cooking for family holidays. She and Buddy traveled all over North America and especially loved taking all the grandchildren (and their parents) on Disney cruises. She was a loving mother and aunt, who enjoyed spending time with her extended family. She loved her lunch club and her friends of over 40 years and was an active part of the garden club. She was always in her yard, planting and working on flower beds. She was especially proud of her blueberries, hydrangeas, and the fig tree. Some of her favorite times were spent looking for new flowers at the nurseries anywhere she went. She loved her animals and fed any that wandered up. She supported the public library in Hazlehurst and McComb; she read voraciously. She always had a book checked out and liked the digital versions she had access to. She was always learning and wasn’t afraid of technology or anything else. She wielded her razor sharp sense of humor fearlessly and remorselessly. She was a force of nature. She is predeceased by her parents, Ernest and Ethel Clark; her brothers J. E. Clark, Chester Clark, and Elton Clark; her sister, Virginia Clark Shaw; her beloved niece, Debbie Shaw Johnson; and her brother-in-law, Jack Swarts. Vallie is survived by her husband, Edmund (Buddy) Prestridge, and her two daughters, Andrea Prestridge Clark of Hattiesburg and Amy Prestridge Brunt (David) of Crystal Springs, her grandchildren, Andrew (Hayley) and Ian Clark and David (Brittany), Alexandra (Carlos), Levi, and Eliza Brunt, and three great grandchildren and two expected great grandchildren and two sisters, Wilene Clark Westbrook of Edmond, Ok. and Katherine Swarts of Birmingham, Al. In lieu of flowers please send donations to the Women of the Church, First Presbyterian Church, The Mustard Seed in Flowood, or Copiah-Jefferson Regional Library. Praise be to the Lord, for He has heard my cry for mercy. The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts Him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy, and I will give thanks to Him in song. PSALM 28:6-7 NIV

Vallie Prestridge

November 20, 1939 - February 29, 2024

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Vallie Prestridge

November 20, 1939 - February 29, 2024

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