Jerry McFarland

July 23, 1935 - July 26, 2021

Jerry McFarland was born July 23, 1935 in Vicksburg, Mississippi to the late Sydney and Mary McFarland. He was one of the four children who lived to adulthood from that union. In being presented with exceedingly limited educational and employment options, he decided to enlist in the military to escape the suffocating and oppressive conditions of the segregated south. He had no biological children but was able to enjoy the benefits of family when he married Thelma McFarland on September 26, 1969. He and Thelma were married for thirty-seven years before she transitioned. Thelma brought three children into the union. Jerry McFarland strived to live his life with integrity and to treat people how he wanted to be treated. He enjoyed his daily talks with his brother Eddie, about everything under the sun, before Eddie passed. Those communications, over the miles that separated them, were taken on by his sister-in-law Maxima McFarland, who encouraged and prayed for Jerry during his illness. Jerry McFarland was preceded in death by his wife: Thelma McFarland; his brothers: William McFarland, Eddie McFarland; his sister: Mary Lee McFarland Chambliss; his step-son: Ronald Wayne Dowell; his nephews: Anthony Chambliss, Lewis Chambliss, Sr. (Jewel); and step-daughter Brenda Moore. Jerry McFarland will be fondly and lovingly remembered by his sister-in-law Maxima McFarland; niece, Brenda Chambliss (Rahim Reed); nephews, Michael Chambliss, Bobby McFarland; niece: Mary McFarland; brother-in-law, L.A. Chambliss; great nephews: Malik Reed, Kamal Reed, Lewis Chambliss, Jr.; great, great nephews; Ayaan Reed, Khalil Keough; step-daughter, Delva Green (Leander); Step-son, Ivey T “Junie” Dowell, and an entourage of step-great grandchildren, step-grandchildren, step-nieces, step-nephews, step-great-great nephews, and a host of other relatives and friends.