Obituary of Ida Mae Jenkins Roper

Funeral services for Ms. Ida Mae Jenkins Roper will be held at 10 AM Monday, August 16, 2021 in the chapel of Golden Funeral Home with Bro. Bob Lonadier officiating. Interment will follow in Bartholomew United Methodist Church Cemetery. Visitation is scheduled for Monday, August 16, 2021 from 9 AM - 10 AM service time at Golden Funeral Home. Ms. Roper, a retired Corporation Bookkeeper, was born March 6, 1925 and went to be with Jesus Thursday, August 5, 2021, at the age of ninety-six. She was born one of five children to Gertrude and Neal Jenkins at Twin Oaks farm and lived her entire life in Morehouse except for brief moves to Lake Charles and Macon, Georgia. Ms. Roper was a lifetime member of Bartholomew United Methodist Church which was a scant two miles from where she was born and where she will be laid to rest. She taught Sunday school there for years the children knew her as Ms. Ida, but some called her Granny and she loved that. Now a member of Horseshoe Baptist Church near where she lived from the age of eighty-one until God called her home. Ms. Ida’s lifelong passion was spreading the word of God, encouraging the downcast and inspiring others to do good by their fellow man. She always told anyone in distress to put God first and he will never let you endure more than you can handle. She had served as President of Morehouse Council on Aging for nine years, she was a member of Triad and also served as President for ten years. Ms. Roper was a Board of Directors Member of the Morehouse Parish Senior Apartments. She taught children’s choir for thirty-five years and even at the age of eighty-seven was still teaching children to sing and give praises to the Lord Jesus. Ms. Roper loved to sing on Thursdays at the Morehouse Parish Council on Aging at the age of eighty-four, after teaching an hour long quilting class there and was still teaching friends at home at eighty-seven years of age. Ms. Roper loved to quilt and quilted as many as sixteen quilts in one year. She entered sixty- seventy items in the Cotton Festival Fair every year. Ms. Roper said her mother and father always advised her to enter many things so more people would come to Bastrop, spend money and enjoy the fair exhibits. They always participated in the fair every year. They had Tennessee walking horses and also a buggy and a surry with the fringe on top. Her daddy led the parade for several years, holding the flag and riding Traveler, his favorite Tennessee Walker. She competed in the Senior Olympics and gathered a suit case full of medals from age seventy until ninety. A fierce competitor in table games she held no quarter for her challengers in Scrabble. It was said that she could beat you with just two tiles remaining and behind five points. As her sons quickly learned, she was that good. Mrs. Ida loved word games and until her passing crosswords were a passion. Ms. Roper also published a book of poetry in 1999 and has several reprinting. “Joyful Journeys, a book of poetry is a good Christian guide to living. She also published a Christian novel, Prisoners of Mason Ridge, at the age of eighty-four. She was loved and respected by all that knew her. She encouraged all of us to put God first in our lives and everything else would fall in place. She will be missed by thousands of people as was her father, Neal Glen Jenkins and mother, Gertrude Robinson Jenkins. She is preceded in death by her parents; former husband, George W. Roper; brother, Raymond Robinson Jenkins; sisters, Vera Lee Hedges, Myrtle Lue Kerico, Nova Helen Nelson; grandson, Dustin Glen Roper; and four brothers-in-law, Jesse Edward Roper, Frank Kerico, James Hedges, Noble Nelson; and a special great niece, Nicole Prevatte. Ms. Roper raised two sons, Dennis Roper and David Roper. She loved her grandchildren Heather Eve Roper, Faith Anna Roper, Hilary Anne Roper, Colin Glen Roper; and her great grandchildren, Devin Glen Roper, Jared Elton Roper, and Michael Lemons Roper; sister-in-law, Mary Katherine Jenkins; nieces and nephews, Johanna Kerico, Ted Kerico and wife Ruth, Bill Nelson and wife Judy, Nelda Shields and husband Roger and Shirley Foote and husband Jeff. Serving the family as pallbearers will be Ted Kerico, Jim Roper, Bill Nelson, Roger Shields, Jeff Foote, Sr., Jeff Foote, Jr., Vernon Carroll and Donnie Bulloch. Honorary pallbearers are Colin Glen Roper, Morris Joe Jenkins, Mark Jenkins, Marshall Stevens, Jason Rogers, Mike Silk, Loomis Bright, and Harlan Hamilton.