Lillie “Honey” Sams, 98, died at her home in Pearlington, MS on Thursday, November 19, 2015.
She was a native of Logtown, Mississippi where she met her husband the late Rev. Robert N. Sams. The Sams family moved to Pearlington, Mississippi after NASA bought the Logtown area. Lillie worked for the Head Start Program as a teacher and a cook until she retired. In the early 1980s, Lillie and her husband became foster parents for the Hancock County Welfare System, and she continued this service for over 30 years.
In her community, she was a civil rights activist alongside her husband Rev. Sams, and she would help to unify the African-American vote during election years.
Lillie is preceded in death by her parents Oran and Minnie Moultrie; her husband Rev. Robert N. Sams; her sisters Viola Burnett, Hattie Buford, Ella Combs, Emma Jones, and Orealia Acker; and her daughter Leanna Sams Smith.
She is survived by her daughters Viola Ishem and Orealia Marshall (John, Sr.) of Pearlington, MS;  6 grandchildren; and a host of great-grandchildren, nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends.
Visitation will be on Saturday, November 28, 2015 at Greater Mt. Zion AME Church in Pearlington from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Funeral service will follow at 11:00 a.m. with the Rev. Cornelius Hilliard, Jr. officiating.
Funeral arrangements entrusted to Baylous Funeral Home of Picayune Mississippi.