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1701 North State Street Jackson, MS 39210-0001 (800)352-1050 (601)974-1000
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The Millsaps community mourns the loss of Miriam W. Weems, a friend of the College and renowned artist, who used her artistic talents to brighten the lives of many.
"Miriam embodied the true spirit of a creative individual that we so highly value at Millsaps College," said Millsaps President Dr. Rob Pearigen. "She used her talents to brighten the world through her brushstrokes, and also strived to ensure her artwork benefited those less fortunate. She gave Phoebe and me a touchingly autographed copy of Miriam Weems: Mostly Mississippi when we moved to the Belhaven neighborhood last year."
Weems, an animal lover, was known for her colorful Mississippi landscapes and would often donate her paintings to charities to raise funds for the Animal Rescue League in Jackson and the Oxford Animal Rescue League.
Howard McMillan, dean of the Else School of Management, and his family own at least ten paintings by Miriam. One of their favorites is a painting of the Millsaps Bell Tower which his daughter, Eliza McMillan Garraway, commissioned Miriam as a wedding gift for her brother and his wife, Gina and Howard McMillan, of Haymarket, Va.
Miriam Weems was the wife of Tommy Weems and the mother of Sam D. Knowlton III, of Oxford, and Richard Baxter Wilson Knowlton of Little Rock, Ark. and the step-mother of Kelly Weems Wollfarth of Mandeville, La., Davis Weems Mitchell of Atlanta, Ga. and Caroline Weems Rushing of Aspen, Co.
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Weems family members are longtime supporters of Millsaps. In 2000, Dr. and Mrs. Lamar Weems, first cousin of Tommy Weems, donated the family's home on the corner of Euclid and State Street to the College.
The home, built in 1917, represents a relationship spanning more than 100 years and 36 Weems descendents who have graduated from Millsaps College. In 1890, William Lafayette Weems heard of plans to establish a Methodist college in Mississippi. He sold a yoke of oxen and donated the proceeds to Millsaps, even though he was greeted with skepticism from those who said that it wasn't likely any of his children would graduate from college.
"Perhaps not," Weems conceded, "but maybe one of my descendants can listen to a preacher who was educated at Millsaps." As fate would have it, Weems and his wife Molly had nine children, two of whom went on to become Millsaps graduates.
Funeral services will take place at the Cathedral Parish of Saint Andrew in Jackson. The service will begin at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 23 with visitation preceding it in the Parish Hall at 9:30 a.m.
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