Frances Gay Ward Kitchens

(July 6, 1935 – January 14, 2023)

Funeral services will be held at 12:00 p.m. on Tuesday, January 17, 2023, at Billy M. King-Colonial Chapel Funeral Home in Collins for Frances Gay Ward Kitchens, 87, of Hattiesburg, who passed away on Saturday, January 14, 2023, at the Asbury Hospice House in Hattiesburg.

Reverend Colon Rowell will officiate the services with interment to follow in the Daniel R. King Family Cemetery in Bassfield.  Special music will be provided by Avery Kitchens, Nikki Kitchens, Vic Kitchens, and Sherry Rand.  Billy M. King-Colonial Chapel Funeral Home in Collins will be in charge of the arrangements.

Visitation will be held from 10:00 a.m. until 12 p.m. on Tuesday, January 17, 2023, at Billy M. King-Colonial Chapel Funeral Home, 3302 Hwy 49, Collins, Mississippi.

Pallbearers will be Matthew Kitchens, Kyle Kitchens, Blayne Kitchens, Forest Kitchens, Adam Kitchens, and Aaron Rowell.

Mrs. Kitchens was born July 6, 1935, in Laurel, Mississippi, to Robert and Alma Ward. She was reared in Laurel, and, on June 6, 1953, she married the love of her life, Reverend Thomas Kitchens, who passed away in February of 2022. A member of the Pentecostal Faith, Mrs. Kitchens was a devoted pastor's wife and homemaker. She is lovingly remembered as a good cook, a skilled seamstress, a beautiful singer, and an avid reader. She bestowed a passion for singing and reading in each of her children. She was loved by many and will be dearly missed.

Mrs. Kitchens is enjoying an amazing Heavenly reunion with her husband of 68 years, Reverend George Thomas Kitchens; son, David Lane Kitchens; parents, Robert Melvin and Alma Shows Ward; brother, Robert Aaron Ward; sisters, Eleanor Ward, Dorothy Nixon, and Bobbie Culpepper; great grandson, Jeremiah Levi Kitchens; and a daughter-in-law, Angela Elmira Loper Kitchens.

Survivors include her sons, Thomas Steve Kitchens (Karen) of Picayune, Mississippi, Paul Douglas Kitchens of Robertsdale, Alabama, Joseph Mark Kitchens (Charlotte) of Hattiesburg, Benjamin Robert Kitchens of Clarksville, Sharon Rose Kitchens Rand (Wayne) of Ovett, Mississippi; James Micah Kitchens (Rosemary) of Seminary, Mississippi, Victor Dwayne Kitchens (Jody) of Clarksville, Tennessee, and Joel Andrew Kitchens (Nancy) Springfield, Missouri; sister, Jean Walker; 17 grandchildren; 38 great-grandchildren; and many nieces, nephews, extended family members, and friends.

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