Here are notable people the Mississippi Coast lost in 2019
The Mississippi Coast said goodbye to many notable figures in 2019, as well as young people who left too soon.
Here is the list of deaths that made headlines this year:
▪ U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran died in May at age 81. He was a lawmaker for 45 years and never lost an election. He retired from Congress, where he was chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, on April 1, 2018, due to failing health.
▪ The Catholic Diocese of Biloxi lost two retired bishops in 2019. Bishop Emeritus Joseph Lawson Howze, the first black bishop to lead a diocese in the United States in the 20th Century, died in January at the age of 95. He was the founding bishop of the Biloxi Diocese. In October, retired Bishop Roger Paul Morin, 78, the third bishop of Biloxi, died after visiting family in New England. Both men were buried at the Bishops’ Cemetery and Memorial Prayer Garden at the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Biloxi.
▪ A 24-year veteran Biloxi police officer was shot and killed in May in front of the police station on Porter Avenue. Officer Robert McKeithen died after the suspect shot the uniformed officer near his police SUV, parked just feet from the front door of the Lopez Quave Public Safety Center. Police and other first responders from across the country traveled to Biloxi for the officer’s funeral.
Gone too soon
▪ The bodies of three teens were pulled from the Biloxi River in August. Travis Roberson, Javonte Johnson and Eric Smith drowned while swimming and trying to help pull each other safely out of the water. The community mourned with their families and friends.
▪ William Peyton Taylor-Henson, 18, died just before his graduation from Long Beach High school in May. He drowned while swimming in the Wolf River.
▪ Hancock High School cheer captain Emily Kathryn Goss died in a two-vehicle crash in July near Picayune. She was 17. Police said she was not wearing a seat belt when she lost control of her vehicle and crashed.
▪ Just weeks before Christmas, a former Bay St. Louis woman, Hadyn O’Cain Griffin, 24, died in a car crash in Georgia. Her father, Jimmy O’Cain, was band director at St. Stanislaus for three years, and Griffin was a drum major.
▪ In March, Tulane University student Margaret “Meg” Maurer, 21, was killed when a tire from a passing tractor trailer broke loose and hit her as she and her friends were stopped at the rest area on I-10 near Gautier.
▪ A former Gulfport High School football standout and a member of the East Mississippi Community College team died in an automobile crash in July that also involved two other football players from the Coast. Former Admirals defensive back Zae Crain died on impact in the crash. Jeremiah Braziel, who also played football at Gulfport, and former Harrison Central running back Keon Moore were injured in the collision.
Other deaths of note
▪ The owners of Lovelace Drugs in Ocean Springs died in a one-car crash in October. Clark and Amelda Levi left behind eight children. Their drug store on Washington Avenue, which was raided by the FBI in May, is for sale.
▪ Off-duty Harrison County deputy Glenn Everett Roe died in a motorcycle accident in September. His wife was riding with him and was injured when a pickup truck turned in front of them on Old Fort Bayou Road in Ocean Springs.
▪ A father died on his way to see his dying son at a Gulfport hospital. James Danley Jr. , 67, of Saucier, lost control of his vehicle and wrecked. Police say he was not wearing a seat belt. His son died a few hours later.
▪ Edmond Boudreaux, historian and author, died Dec. 22. He was known for portrayals of historic figures and his many writings about the history of South Mississippi including his book “Lost Biloxi.”
▪ Beverly Jane Kovacevich, 91, a matriarch of the Point in East Biloxi, died in September. She and her husband, Ivan, raised nine children, including three sets of twins, and she was the heart of her family and the life of the party.
▪ Jerry Ellis of Biloxi died in December. He was a five-time commodore of the Biloxi Yacht Club, a commodore of Gulf Yachting Association and Mississippi Coast Yachting Association, and was active in many local organizations.
▪ Susan Rubio of Bay St. Louis, 62, died Christmas day after an eight-year battle with breast cancer. She owned The Ugly Pirate cafe and bar in downtown Bay St. Louis with her husband, Keith Rubio, and raised money through the Pink Heart Funds in Long Beach to support other women and children suffering from cancer.
This story was originally published December 30, 2019 at 5:00 AM.
