Mary Jeanette Counts Blackmon, 97, went home to be with Jesus, her Lord, on Sunday, September 11, 2022, in her home at Danberry at Inverness.
She was born on March 30, 1925, and was part of the Greatest Generation.
She was preceded in death by her husband of 68 years, Leon Albert Blackmon; her father, Jesse Cleveland Counts; her mother, Margaret Lykes Counts; and her three sisters, Sarah Counts Barrett, Helene Annette Counts, and Annie Belle Counts.
She is survived by her five children, Margaret Louise Blackmon, James Daniel Blackmon (Cheryl), Harry Cleveland Blackmon (Donna), Charles Henry Blackmon (April), Kenneth Edwin Blackmon (Melinda), ten grandchildren, 24 great-grandchildren, many nieces and nephews, and one great-great-grandson.
Jeanette graduated from Woodlawn High School in 1943, where she was the Concert Meister in the school orchestra. In 1947 she graduated from Howard College, where she was President of Phi Mu sorority and was listed in Who’s Who in American Colleges and Universities. After college, she served as a founder of the Auburn University chapter of Phi Mu. She was a devoted mother and Air Force pilot’s wife, never leaving the home for a career. Her first church membership was at Ruhama Baptist Church in East Lake, where she committed her life to Christ as a teenager. She was a member of First Baptist Church Trussville at the time of her death.
The world will never know the strength of her love for her family and the kindness, grace, and radiant smile she showed every person she met.