Emma Lee Wilson-Williams, age 101, of Peoria, AZ passed peacefully on Tuesday, June 4, 2019. She was born on February 17, 1918 in Bay St. Louis, MS to Reverend Dave S. Garrett and Josephine R. Garrett. Emma Lee Garrett lived with her grandmother during most of her childhood in Waveland, MS.

Funeral services will be held on Saturday, June 15, 2019, 11:00 a.m., at Valena C. Jones United Methodist Church, 248 Sycamore St., Bay St. Louis, MS. Dr. Lewis L. Jackson Sr. of Houston, TX will give the eulogy. Visitation will be held at the church on June 15, 2019 from 10-11:00 a.m. Burial will be at Waveland Cemetery, Dufour Rd., Waveland, MS, under the direction of Baylous Funeral Home. Reception will follow.

She met her first husband, Rev. James W. Wilson LL.D., at Gulfside Assembly, Waveland, MS during a summer minister’s training retreat. Together they attended Rust College, Holly Springs, MS. Mrs. Wilson-Williams received a General Education Degree from Rust College, Bachelor of Arts Degree from Northwestern University and her master’s from Xavier University. Her career as an educator spanned more than twenty-five years, beginning in her birth town of Bay St. Louis. She spent the next twenty years teaching at George Washington Carver School, Picayune, MS and later at Picayune School District. After moving to California, she continued teaching for the San Francisco Unified School District until retirement. She also served as First Lady of the United Methodist Church, United Methodist Women and Stewardship.

Mrs. Wilson-Williams was the mother of nine children, six girls and three boys; Mary Beth Roberts of Bay St. Louis, Talibah Al-Rafiq of Valley Springs, CA, Sharon Hawkins of Spring, TX, Deborah Johnson of Peoria, AZ, James W. Wilson Jr. of Fremont, CA, and Ezra Addon Xhosa of Peoria AZ. She was preceded in death by; two daughters, Florence Jones and Doris Wilson; one son, Leon “Speedy” Williams; her first husband, Rev. James W. Wilson LL.D., second husband, Julius Williams; her six sisters and four brothers. She has one living brother Nathaniel Garrett and twenty-one grandchildren, twenty-two great-grandchildren and ten great-great-grandchildren.