INTRODUCTION

It’s difficult to properly summarize a story that spans 71 years. A life that has traveled several thousand miles, and given countless memories. A story that ends, in the same manner it began...a daughter next to her mom.

HERstory Mildred was born the only girl to Sallie Cason Jackson, and Andrew Lee Jackson in April 1950 in Quitman, Georgia. The youngest to 5 Jackson brothers, (James C., Thomas J., Andrew/Bud- dy, Carl, and Jack), Mildred grew up on the dirt roads of Brooks County, known for its cotton and sugar plantations, always at her mother’s side. She spent her early years with her mom in the fields, begrudgingly picking cotton for nickels. She often recalled days of how amazing her mother was at picking fields of cotton, and how Sallie kept young Mildred motivated. “You gone either beat me to the end of this line today or I’m going to beat your butt.” Always under the threat of a switch to the backside, Mildred picked over 200+lbs of cotton that day. “We wouldn’t pick cotton when it rains, because of the weight, so I would always look up in the sky and say I wish it would rain today, ‘cause Lord I don’t feel like working.” Mildred says. An energetic often stubborn young girl, eating sugarcane, reading comics, and collecting dolls, she looked up to her older brother Jack, then to Carl & Buddy, as she entered, and graduated, her later school years were spent at Washington Street High School. In 1968, an unfortunate housefire led Mildred to relocate and experience life outside of Quitman in the years to come, staying with her brother Carl and his wife Ruth, in Washington, DC. Shortly after, Mildred lost her mother and best friend to cancer, less than a year before the birth of her first daughter, Tina.

Though she aspired to join the Armed Services, Mildred would go on to work in government at the Dept. of Agriculture and hone her outstanding cooking skills in the food service & hos- pitality industry. The mid 70’s brought the birth of her 2nd daughter, Glenda. By the end of the 70’s, Mildred would meet, and marry Marine Sgt. Willie Starks, Sr., welcoming her only son, Jr., daughter Gail, arriving in 1981, with the birth of youngest two, Cherri & Terri in 1983.

As the mom of these 5 girls & 1 boy, a mirroring image of her own siblings & mother, Mildred raised and guided their lives with unbending single-minded parenting in Washington, DC dur- ing the late 80’s & 90’s. Mildred always argued that “I had 6 kids, and all my children graduated, didn’t have babies in school, they never was on drugs. They never went to jail, or nothing.”

By the 2000’s Mildred took great pride in getting her family out of rooms, shelters, and apart- ments, and finally moving into a home of her own. She found romance in James Greenwell and got remarried in the summer of 2001.

In 2006 Mildred was diagnosed with breast cancer, and would spend the next decade defeating it, while simultaneously battling a heart attack, and a near fatal stoke. Mildred would relocate to North Carolina with her daughter, Terri, in 2017 as living a quiet small-town life would prove beneficial in her relaxing, recovery, and getting back up in life.

On March 9, 2022, after falling particularly ill, Mildred was found by Terri, unresponsive. She prompted her daughter to call for an ambulance. As she was being assisted, she said a loving “...bye.” despite Terri’s plea that this was not a goodbye. Before undergoing emergency sur- gery, Mildred shared“...I’m not going to make it out of an operation. I’m going to be with mom- ma.” As pre-op began, she urged Terri to leave and take the kids home. Mildred shared her final ”...goodbye, and see you later.” as Terri begrudgingly exited the hospital. A short while later, doctors raced to stabilize and support Mildred. Carolina East Medical Center in Havelock, NC announced her death just after 1 a.m. on March 10th, to her son and daughters.

A celebration of life will be Saturday, March 26, 2022 at 11AM at Mt. Carmel M.B. Church. Burial will follow in the church cemetery. Visit this website or our Stevens-McGhee Funeral Home Facebook page to view a livestream of the celebration.

Continue to keep the family in your daily thoughts and prayers.