Mary Nell Bass, 83 of Vicksburg, peacefully passed away on Friday, August 27 ^th with her son, Mike holding her hand.  She is the daughter of the late Charlie and Ruby Hall Sanders.  Mary had an extremely large family and is survived by her sisters, Jo Ann Harris and Betty Jean Rodrigue (Ron) and her brother, Jack Sanders.  She is also survived by her daughter Toni Worrell (Ken) of Huntsville, AL and son, Mike Ervin (Leslie) of Vicksburg.  She was preceded in death by her late husband, Otto Guy Ervin, sisters,  Patsy Whatley, Nancy Sanders, Debra Breland and brothers,  Donnie, Emmett and Billy Sanders.

Mary was a devoted and loving grandmother to Christina Ammons (Steve), Courtney Clark (Mike), James Saunders, Jay Cooper (Marigaye) and Grace Sams as well as great-grandmother to Autumn Jade Saunders, Breyhana Clark and Levi Saunders.

Mary will be especially missed by her devoted niece Amy Sessions who was instrumental in making sure her Aunt Nell was always lovingly well cared for along with her life-long and dear friend James "Pap" Ahner.

Mary was a devoted Baptist and a longtime member of Trinity Baptist Church where she cherished the members of her Sunday school class.  She traveled to Pennsylvania several times to help establish a sister church and worked the bus ministry and taught Sunday school at Woodlawn Baptist Church.

Mary graduated from Culkin High School in 1957 and from nursing school in 1977.  She was a nurse for 35 years and had a special calling to work in geriatrics.

Mary had a love for sewing and embroidery and spent time crafting exclusive children's clothes for a high-end clothing store in Huntsville, Alabama.  She also loved quilting as well as going fishing, and was happy to sit for hours not needing to catch a single fish.

Her great-granddaughter Breyhana Clark and her "adopted" granddaughter, Emily Sessions, were her passions.

Visitation will be held at Noon to 1 p.m. on Thursday, September 2,  at Fisher-Riles Funeral Home, 5000 Indiana Avenue.  Graveside services will follow at Greenlawn Gardens Cemetery.

The family would like to send a special thanks to Pauline Vessell and staff at Vicksburg Convalescent Center who tenderly cared for her this past year.