Jerry (Geraldine Louise) Evans Burgess

Jerry (Geraldine Louise) Evans Burgess met her Lord and Savior and joined those she has missed for years when she passed from this life on July 14, 2026. She was born in Quitman, AR January 11, 1928, to Mark Inman and Julia Cook Evans.

After graduating from Centerville High School in 1946, she moved to Little Rock and began working for Southwestern Bell. There she met the love of her life, Charles Burgess. They were married for 57 years until his death in 2004.

She also worked for Beverly Retirement Home where she was the Activities Director and Licensed Social Worker. 

She was active in 4-H as an adult leader, in Rural Community Improvement, and in the Eastern Star, and did multiple generations of genealogy study on the Burgess and Evans families when the tools were only cemetery markers, court house records, and a manual typewriter. She was a member of Promise Land Baptist Church. 

She was known for her beautiful daylilies and roses that were a highlight of Highway 82. In 1958, she was named Mrs. Ashley County. 

She was preceded in death by her parents, her sister Alice Ethelene Durham and her husband, and two grandchildren, Richard Benjamin Wade and Ellen Wade Morris, along with many friends and relatives. 

Surviving her are her daughter Bennie Carol Wade, her son Joe Burgess and his wife Tanya, grandson Ben Burgess, her cherished great grandson Wade Morris, and a special niece, Shirley Jackson. 

Rev. Phillip Bowles and Rev. Josh Luellen will preside at an Indoor Graveside Memorial Service on Saturday, July 18, at 10:00 AM in the Hope Room of Promise Land Baptist Church in Hamburg. In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials to the Promise Land Building Fund or the Promise Land Cemetery Association.

This obituary was lovingly written by her family.

A private burial was held Wednesday, July 15, 2026, in the Promise Land Cemetery.