On October 28, 2022, Sharon Rachelle Jumper passed away following a decade-long fight with Alzheimer’s. Blessedly, she is now with the angels.
Rachelle was born on the 4th of July, 1946. A fitting birthday, as she loved her country, flew the flag with pride, and always teared up during the National Anthem. That and “Dixie.” She loved “Dixie,” especially when Elvis sang it!
Rachelle wasn’t from the South. She was born in the small coal mining town of Fairmont, West Virginia to Mary and Peter Franks, both first-generation Americans. But following a childhood illness that nearly claimed her life, the Franks family moved to south Florida. Rachelle spent her formative years in Ft. Lauderdale, graduating from Ft. Lauderdale High in 1964.
Later that year, Rachelle packed her GTO and tore up the asphalt north toward Alabama, where at 17, she enrolled at Auburn University. It was here, at the Loveliest Village On The Plains, that Rachelle met the love of her life, James Walter Jumper, III. Rachelle and Jim met her freshman year, and on June 13, 1969, the two married. Two years later, they moved to Jackson, Mississippi.
Rachelle may not have been born in the South, but she was Southern to her core. She soaked up the culture, the courtesy, the charm. She embraced Mississippi’s wealth of writers and artists and musicians. She loved the arts. She loved nature. She loved her Auburn Tigers! But she especially loved her family.
Rachelle was a loving, faithful wife, and proud mother of two wonderful children, Derek and Nicole. Nothing in life meant more to Rachelle than her children. She was proud of them, but stern; kind, but exacting; unfailing in her love, unrelenting in her discipline. Only when over-prepared were you prepared. 10 minutes early, or you were late. Always “yes, sir” and “no, ma’am.” She was a wonderful mother.
And it was not just with her children. Rachelle loved her family and friends with equal vigor. She was ever-giving, a truly selfless person. She touched the lives of many. Words of condolence received upon her death say it best: “unique;” “fiercely protective;” “always welcoming;” “a genteel Southern woman with a force of her own;” “high character;” “a gentle soul always so embracing to others.”
Rachelle lived her life by an unwavering moral compass. She will be so terribly missed by those surviving her: Jim Jumper, husband of more than 50 years, living in Jackson; Derek and Johanna Jumper, her son and daughter-in-law, and grandson Jackson, living in Ridgeland; and Nicole and Andrew Dunn, her daughter and son-in-law, and grandson Walker, living in Nashville.
Upon her wishes, Rachelle will be cremated. The family is planning a private service at St. James Episcopal Church in Jackson, where her ashes will be interred. Children’s of Mississippi Hospital was Rachelle’s favorite charity.
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