Jessie Compton
Jessie Hankins Compton, died on Sunday, July 12, 2015.
The daughter of Jesse Jewell and Ethel Carver Hankins, she was born on Dec. 4, 1929, in New Orleans. Raised in Arkansas, she graduated from Pine Bluff High School in 1947. Upon graduation, she attended Judkins Commercial College and went to work with Arkansas Power and Light Company. During this time she began to teach dance, a particular love of hers since her days as a student at the Dorothy Donaldson School of Dance in Little Rock. She later closed the studio she had begun in order to attend Blue Mountain College in Mississippi, but returned to Pine Bluff after a year. She came to know the Lord as her personal savior during an Eddie Martin Revival during this time period.
In the fall of 1951, she moved to Chattanooga, to attend Tennessee Temple College. Here she met and courted William (Bill) Compton from Decatur, Al. They were married on Dec. 27, 1953 in Pine Bluff, Ar. She would support Bill and his ministry throughout over 60 years of both evangelism and the pastorate.
Jessie and Bill raised three sons, primarily in Chattanooga. She served the Lord, her husband and her family in many capacities. She taught first grade at Tennessee Temple Elementary School and later served for 10 years as the first school secretary for Tennessee Temple High School. For a short time, she even had her own family oriented half hour radio show on W-DYN, the radio voice of Tennessee Temple Schools at that time. She was active in the Seekers and AhavaSunday School Class at Highland Park Baptist Church for 25 years. She taught Sunday School and sang in church choirs in the places where Bill was pastoring. She also enjoyed sewing, traveling, reading and studying her well-worn Bible.
She was preceded in death by her father, Jesse Hankins, mother, Ethel Hankins and brother, Lawrence Hankins.
She is survived by her husband of 62 years, William (Bill) Compton and her three sons and their families, Leslie (Nancy) Compton of Chattanoog; Scott (Lori) Compton of Kernersville, N.C.: Schuyler (Ruth) Compton of Raleigh, N.C.; grandchildren, Denver and Austin Compton (Schuyler and Ruth), Harper and Weston Compton (Scott and Lori) Jessie Anne and Mary Margaret Compton (Leslie and Nancy); great-grandchildren, Bryn and Blakely Compton (Denver and Colby); two sisters, Joyce Hornaday of Atlanta, and Dorothy (Joe) Adams of Savanah, Ga. and one sister-in-law, Mary Hankins of Atkins, Arkansas, and many nieces and nephews.
A Celebration of Life will be held on Friday, July 17, 2015 at 2:00pm Central time at Roselawn Funeral Home Chapel in Decatur, Alabama with Chaplain Darryl Fortenberry officiating. A time of visitation will be Friday from 12:30pm until 2:00pm. Entombment will be at Roselawn Cemetery. Pallbearers will be Denver Compton, Austin Compton, Harper Compton, Weston Compton, Allan Adams and Jay Terry.
Flowers will be accepted or donations may be made to the Gideon’s.
To sign the online guest registry, please go to www.roselawnfhandcemetery.com.