Remembering Bonnie Lambert Drummond: She Missed Her 100th Birthday by Six Months

Bonnie Drummond, a resident of Baker, died at 1:32 a.m. on Monday, March 28, 2022, at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center with family by her side. She was born to the late James Wesley and Nannie Magee Lambert, Oct. 9, 1922, in Jayess, MS. 

She was the middle child of nine children. She worked the fields and picked cotton alongside her parents and siblings. She left home at the age of 18 and attended college, which was practically unheard of at that time. She got a job and earned her own money. She survived the Great Depression, lived through World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Persian Gulf War and witnessed the end of the Cold War. She watched a man walk on the moon and saw the invention of color television, jet aircraft, computers, cell phones and social media. She watched the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the resignation of Richard Nixon, and the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan. Bonnie witnessed the rise of Rock and Roll, the craze of Woodstock, and racial segregation. She watched television coverage of the Oklahoma bombing, and the 9-11 attacks. She survived hurricanes, Betsy, Camille, and Katrina and the raising of four girls. She was a “lady” by its truest definition. 

On January 2, 1951, she married the love her life, the late LC Drummond. He proposed on New Year’s Eve 1950, and they married two days later. That union lasted 58 years before the Lord called LC home. 

Bonnie is survived by her four daughters and three sons-in-law, Linda and Mack McKinney of Delhi, Cynthia Blalock of Baker, Sandra and Jeffery French of St. Amant and Candi and James Byron Lee of Central. She is also survived by 15 grandchildren, Amanda Moody and husband Lamon; Jared Lee and wife Jessica; Evan Patton and husband Matthew; Christy Patterson; Jennifer Bailey and husband Brandon; Alicia Patterson; Ashlyn Freels and husband Hunter; Penny Travis and husband Reed; Tina Kennedy and husband Brian; Bonnie Blalock; Michel Blalock; Tonja Nielson and husband Jason; Chris McKinney and wife Carissa; Rhonda McKinney; and Brandy Halford and husband Gregg. She had 36 great-grandchildren and 11 great-great-grandchildren along with many special nieces and nephews. Preceded in death by her husband; her parents; her brothers Watson Lambert, Maxie Lambert, John Lambert and James Obed Lambert; her sisters Wessie Calhoun, Ruth Tauchen, Lois Lewis, and Edwina Cash; son-in-law Hilton Blalock, and grandson, John Blalock. Pallbearers will be Brandon Bailey, Jared Lee, Chris McKinney, Reed Travis, James B. Lee, and Jeffery French. Honorary pallbearers are Randol “Mack” McKinney, Lamon Moody, Matthew Patton, Jason Nielson, Michel Blalock, and Brian Kennedy.

More than life itself she loved her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and served him with all her heart. Today she is rejoicing in his presence and walking those streets of gold. She prayed for her family daily naming them one by one. She fought the good fight; she finished the race. When asked how she wanted to be remembered she said, “That I was faithful.”  She was loved beyond measure and will be missed dearly by all who knew her.

Relatives and friends joined the family for the visitation and funeral at Baker Funeral Home on Friday, April 1, 2022. The funeral service was officiated by Rev. Rick McAlister. The graveside service and burial were at Hillcrest Memorial Gardens in Baker.

1 Corinthians 15:50-57

“What I am saying, dear brothers and sisters, is that our physical bodies cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. These dying bodies cannot inherit what will last forever. But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed. For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies. Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?’ For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.”