Dimple Louise Speed Mooney
(January 12, 1926 – November 24, 2024)

"Well done, good and faithful servant … enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. "  Matthew 25:23 KJV.

Funeral services will be held at 2:00 pm on Tuesday, November 26, 2024, at the Seminary Baptist Church in Seminary for Dimple Louise Speed Mooney, 98 of Seminary, who passed away on Sunday, November 24, 2024, at her residence.

Dr. Tim Hubbard and Reverend Bill Bustin will officiate at the services with interment to follow in the Seminary Cemetery in Seminary. Special music will be provided by Ricky and Susan Deen, Noah Sanford, Bill Rogers, Dr. Tim Hubbard, and Melanie Hubbard.  Billy M. King-Colonial Chapel Funeral Home in Collins will be in charge of the arrangements.

The family will receive guests from 11:30 am until 2:00 pm on Tuesday, November 26, 2024, at the Seminary Baptist Church, 220 West Main Street, Seminary, Mississippi.

The pallbearers will be Greg Akers, Wayne Folkes, David Hemeter, Terry Wayne McDaniel, David McPhail, and Steve Trotter.

Dimple's life journey began and ended in her beloved hometown of Seminary, population around 300. She was born January 12, 1926, in the pastoral setting of country farmland to Harvey David Speed and Julia Lee Reid Speed.  A lifelong learner, Dimple begged her mother to start school at an early age. Julia complied; Dimple entered Seminary Attendance Center at the age of four. She graduated from high school at the age of 16. Seven months later, Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, and the U.S. entered World War II. She worked as the sole secretary for a laboratory at Camp Shelby, commuting daily with Doris Watts and Porter Messer from Sumrall, where she lived with the Messer family. After the war ended, she was a secretary to Dr. Grady Cook at a hospital near Hattiesburg. She joined Hercules in Hattiesburg doing secretarial work with "a fine group of folks," she recalled.

On June 22, 1947, Dimple married John "Martin" Mooney from Seminary, the oldest of four children born to Richard Martin Mooney and Minnie Herrin Mooney. Martin had been stationed in Guam during the war. The couple relocated to Oxford, where Martin studied law; Dimple worked as a secretary in the public relations department at Ole Miss, in the historic Lyceum building.  After law school, the couple returned to Covington County, settling in Collins, where their first child, John "Johnny" Martin Mooney Jr., was born on Aug. 15, 1952. He would grow up to be a lawyer, like his dad. In 1960, the family moved to a lovely red-brick home with pretty gardens in Seminary. Their second child, Marty Lynne, was born on Sept. 28, 1960. She would grow up to be a writer.

Dimple was a fixture at Seminary Attendance Center as the longtime school secretary. Many students passed through her office as assistants and recall her fondly. "She kept us all in order," joked an alum. For decades, Dimple also worked as town secretary, going to that job immediately after a school workday. Dimple was very involved at Seminary Baptist Church, often sitting on the second row, second seat from the middle, and singing in the choir for more than 60 years. When Martin died on May 15, 2008, at the age of 85, they had been married 61 years. Dimple met her goal of living independently until shortly before her death, when she moved into the Seminary home of her daughter and Pepper Jeter, her son-in-law of 30 years. She met an "angel on earth" in the form of hospice nurse Germaine Priest. She died peacefully in her bed on Sunday, November 24, 2024.

Cherishing her memory are her children, John Mooney (Nancy), Marty Lynne Jeter (Pepper), and nine grandchildren, who called her "Mama D." - John "Jay" Martin Mooney III (Bryce), Caroline Conlee Mooney Ostensen (Tommy), Stephanie Lynne Wilbanks Smith (T.A.), David Taylor Mooney (Mandy), Sarah Elizabeth Wilbanks Henderson (Chad), Steven Matthew Wilbanks, Katherine Anne Mooney Walters (Jonathan), Mittie Rachel Field, and Joshua Pepper Jeter.

Her 14 great grandchildren include Sydney Grace White, 13, Kayla Jeter, 10, Kenzie Jeter, 10, Thomas Lloyd Ostensen III, 8, Madelyn Harper Smith, 8, James David Mooney, 6, Luke Scot Ostensen, 5, Thomas Alver "Talver" Smith IV, 4, Emmy Lee Mooney, 3, Corrie Rose Walters, 2, Luke Jeter, 2, Collins Ruth Mooney, 1, Bennett Knight Henderson, 1, and Conlee Laverne Walters, 1.

The family requests that in lieu of flowers for Ms. Dimple that she asked for donations to be made to the Seminary Baptist Church building fund in her memory.

Family and friends may sign an online guestbook at www.billymkingcolonialchapel.com