PAROLEE ANGELA HOLT BOONE, age 67, died of a heart
attack in her home in Cordova, Tennessee on Sunday, September 14, 2008.
She was born in Meridian, Mississippi on October 4, 1940, to the late
Alma Edward Joyner and William Sidney Jones. When she graduated from
Booker T. Washington High School in Memphis, Tennessee, her love of life
and adventure lead her to California to attend Pepperdine University,
but she later returned to Tennessee, transferring to LeMoyne-Owen
College, to be near family. Growing up in the segregated south, she
developed intolerance for injustice, and became a fearless crusader for
equal rights. In March 1960 while attending LeMoyne-Owen College, she
and 3 fellow classmates staged a sit-in at a Walgreen’s drugs store and
were incarcerated. Unbeknownst to her, this momentous act of defiance
would later go down in Tennessee history. In 2004, and again in 2007,
the Shelby County Board of Commissioners, Tennessee, and the Memphis
City Council awarded her a certificate for her remarkable contributions
to the civil rights movement. Although a courageous leader, Parolee was
also a kind, warm hearted, devoted mother and friend. She embraced and
touched everyone who crossed her path. She spent her professional career
in the medical field working as an administrator to Drs. Ray Anderson
and A.E. Horn in Memphis. In 1965 she married Stephen Orlando Boone, and
moved to Detroit, Michigan. While raising her children in Detroit, she
became a volunteer with the local Red Cross chapter, which started her
involvement in community organizations wherever she lived. When she
moved to Arizona and Tennessee, she continued to volunteer on the
weekends at the local shelter. To many she was known as “Pearly B,” but
affectionately called “Mama” by most everyone. Her favorite pastime
outside of being around family, was sitting on the patio surrounded by
her many tropical plants, sipping green tea, and, as she said, “basking
in the beauty of nature.” She was reared in the Second Congregational
Church, and later joined St. Augustine Catholic Church. Parolee is
survived by her children, Glenn Williams, Stephanie Boone, Phillip
Boone, Sybil Boone, and Patrick Boone; her ex-husband, Stephen Boone;
her sister Phyllis Kendrick, St. Louis, MO, and brother Steve Holt,
Memphis, TN; two grandchildren Alex Brookhart, Iowa City, IA, and Ayanna
Boone, Houston, TX; dear friends, Lobelia Banks, Eunice Carruthers, H.
T. Lockard, Grace Meachum, and Jolene Westbrook, Memphis, TN, and many
more. She is further survived by her nephew Jody Shannon, Memphis, TN,
and Leslie Milam, St. Louis, MO. In addition to her parents, she was
preceded in death by her youngest daughter Sydney Boone in 2005. Funeral
services were held on September 20, 2008, at MJ Edwards Funeral Home on
1165 Airways Blvd. Parolee Boone was laid to rest at Forest Hill
Cemetery on 2440 Whitten Rd. in Memphis, Tennessee. Mama, You will
forever be the love of our lives, and not to be forgotten on your
special day. Happy Birthday! Love, your children.
Published in The Commercial Appeal from 10/4/2008 -
10/5/2008
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