Jackie Mae Eastland

Jackie Mae Waltman Eastland, age 83, passed away peacefully on September 21st at Wisteria Gardens in Pearl.

Jackie was born on July 26, 1943, in Simpson County, Mississippi, and graduated from New Hebron High School in 1961. After moving to Jackson, she married William (Bill) Eastland in 1962. The couple moved to Clinton in the early 1960s, where they raised their two girls.

While in Clinton, Jackie served as the director of Clinton Gymnastics for more than seven years, leading several teams and gymnasts to numerous state championships. In 1987, she began working at Baptist Hospital as the Administrative Assistant for the Social Services department, where her kindness and love for serving others helped meet the needs of patients and families until she retired in 1999. The couple moved to the country in Florence in 1989, where she was a member of First Baptist Church. After relocating to Pearl in 2018, she was the HOA secretary for her new neighborhood.

She was proceeded in death by her parents, Jack Thomas and Eula Mae Waltman of New Hebron, and her sisters Lynell Lane of Florence, Laverne Alford of Ridgeland, and Margie Cobb of Hazlehurst.

She is survived by her husband, William (Bill) Eastland of Pearl, daughter Jane Foreman of Brandon, daughter Lane Roberts (Tony) of Collierville, Tennessee, and her brother, David Waltman (Peggy) of Minden, Louisiana. She is also survived by four grandchildren: Kathryn Abernathy (Wyatt) of Brandon, William Foreman (Molly) of Pearl, Dr. Grace Roberts-Palmer (Andrew) of San Diego, California, and Jack Roberts of Asheville, North Carolina. She is also survived by her cherished niece and nephew, Sherry Brooking (Millard) of Chandler, Texas, and Mike Cobb (Fay) of Madison.

Her most recent joy was also being a great-grandmother to Landry Kate and Lucy Abernathy, and Walker Foreman.

The family would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to Katherine Wilson for her continued love, compassion, and care of their mother. They would also like to thank the wonderful staff at Wisteria Gardens for making her final days comfortable.

Visitation will be at Chancellor’s Funeral Home in Florence on Saturday, September 26, from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m., with services immediately following in the chapel. Burial will follow at Glenwood Memorial Park in Richland.

In lieu of flowers, memorials can be made in Jackie’s name to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.