Dahlia Neelo Noel Hunt

Dahlia Neelo Noel Hunt, age 98, died at home June 27, 2025, after a good long life on earth of grace and strength in spite of challenges along the way. As Psalm 116:15 says, “Precious in the eyes of God is the death of his faithful servants.” Heaven is her home; she was just passing through this world.

Visitation with family and friends will be held at Ott & Lee Funeral Home in Forest, MS, on July 5, 2025, from 2 – 3 pm. The celebration of her life service will start at 3 pm and be followed by a graveside service and internment for the family at Macedonia Church in Hillsboro, MS, with ­­­­­­­­Rev. Reggie Tatum officiating.

Born July 12, 1926, in Scott County, Mississippi, to Houston Burlor Noel and Lela Naomi Aycock Noel, she grew up with a brother and a sister on a cotton farm and lived most of her life in Mississippi. After graduating from Clifton High School in Hillsboro, she attended Jones County Junior College in Ellisville and then graduated in 1947 from Southern Mississippi University (now University of Southern Mississippi) in Hattiesburg. She married Philip Barnes Hunt April 17, 1948, and together they completed their master’s degrees at Mississippi State University in Starkville in August 1956.

She was long associated with public schools in Poplarville and Picayune, Mississippi, as teacher and counselor. Five years were served as teacher with the Parkway Elementary School near St. Louis, Missouri, from 1964-1969, and 5 years in Pascagoula, Mississippi, as a high school counselor prior to retiring with her husband in 1985.

Her retirement years were spent in Pascagoula and Forest, Mississippi, where she was actively involved with the Baptist churches teaching Sunday School and doing volunteer work with the American Legion Auxiliary making wheelchair backpacks and large terry cloth bibs for Veterans in hospitals in Brookhaven and Kosciusko. Crafts and reading were her hobbies. They loved connecting with friends each year at USS Columbia ship reunions around the nation.

She moved with her husband to Sunnybrook Estates, a Christian retirement community, in October 2002 and enjoyed meeting and dining with new neighbors and friends. They enjoyed a Mississippi River boat cruise in 2004 on the American Queen Riverboat. In 2007, she accompanied her daughter to Dollywood and Gatlinburg, and in 2008 they enjoyed a long trek to Las Vegas and Bryce, Zion, and the Grand Canyon National Parks. As recently as April 2019, she traveled to Biloxi to watch the waves and seagulls.

When asked in 2015 what were the smartest things she ever did in her life, she said:

“I worked through college in order to get my degree. I married Phil Hunt and had 2 kids. I accepted Jesus as Savior, lived it and taught it every chance I got -- this is the umbrella overall smartest thing I did.”

Her family is especially grateful to her devoted personal caregivers, Jannie Ford, Evonne Perkins, and Mina Thompson, and her nurse, Carol McFarland, all who made possible her long 23 years’ residence at Sunnybrook, her favorite place she ever lived. Gratitude is also expressed to the dedicated team at AccentCare Hospice whose compassionate care and presence brought comfort and peace in her final days.

Surviving are her daughter, Phylliss Marie Hunt Moret of Richmond, Virginia; daughter-in-law Christee Hunt, of Moncks Corner, South Carolina; grandson, Stephen Moret and wife, Heather of Arlington, VA; grandson Eric Noel Moret and wife, Brighid, of Laurel, Maryland; granddaughter Megan Hunt Dell and husband, Ryan, of Ravenel, SC; and grandson Jordan Hunt and his wife, Ruth, of Columbia, SC; great-grandchildren Jackson, Samuel, and Benjamin Moret, and Mary Katherine Moret of Arlington, VA; Teagan and Declan Moret of Laurel, Maryland; Grant and Elizabeth Dell of Ravenel, SC; Arthur Jonathan Hunt of Columbia, SC, and scores of cousins, nieces, and nephews. She is preceded in death by her husband, Philip, her son, Danny Mike, her parents, and her siblings.

Serving as pallbearers will be:

Flowers are welcomed, as befits her name Dahlia, or the family suggests memorial contributions may be directed to: Sunnybrook Children’s Home, 225 Sunnybrook Road, Ridgeland, MS 39157 (601.856.6555); or Forest Baptist Church, 439 E. 1st Street, Forest, MS 39074 (601.469.2206).

Arrangements are made by Ott & Lee Funeral Home in Forest, Mississippi