How do you pay homage to a character about whom so many stories have been told and retold, and all of them are true?
Orman Kimbrough Gee III, 68, died Monday, April 22, 2019, at his home in Greenwood. Visitation for Orman will be held at the Episcopal Church of the Nativity in Greenwood on Friday at 9 a.m., with the service to follow at 10 a.m. Interment will be in Evergreen Cemetery in North Carrollton. Wilson & Knight Funeral Home is in charge of the arrangements.
Mr. Gee was born July 27, 1950, to Orman and Wessie Gee at the Greenwood Leflore Hospital. He was raised in Carrollton.
He was a 1968 graduate of Greenwood High School and attended the University of Mississippi in the fall of that year. Later while attending Mississippi State University, he received a Bachelor of Science degree in agriculture. At Mississippi State, Orman was a member of Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity. After college, he engaged in farming and animal husbandry, but his greatest success was in real estate.
Diagnosed with a brain tumor in 1984, he underwent a series of operations, from which he had remarkable recoveries that eventually left him weakened but still engaging and fun-loving.
Mr. Gee is survived by his wife of 30 years, Mary Swayze Fleming Gee of Greenwood, who has been his constant advocate and champion and is responsible for his resilience throughout his long battle with his brain tumor. He is also survived by his sister, Mary Anne Gee Boswell of Jackson; his brother, Dr. Peter Ellzey Gee of Austin, Texas; and numerous nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents.
The Rev. Peter Gray will officiate at the services.
The family would like to thank caregivers Annette Mize, Regina Henderson and Derrick Thompson.
Honorary pallbearers will be Jody Gee, Dr. John Fair Lucas Jr., Dr. Aubrey Lucas, Robert Lucas, Dr. John Lucas III, Jophy Gee, Burrell Gee, Sam Fonda, Harry Lott, Frankie Box, Bob Baird, Johnny Atkinson, George Sherman, Mike McDonald, Walter Pitts, David Russell, Bob Provine, Brian Jones, Bill Brown and Fasia Duren.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorials be sent to the Episcopal Church of the Nativity in Greenwood or Grace Episcopal Church in Carrollton.
An online guestbook may be signed at www.wilson-andknight.com.