Jane Ross Warnock died Sunday, May 3, 2015, at her home. She was 82.

Born in Vicksburg, she was the daughter of the late William B. Ross, Jr. and Jewell Andress Ross.

Jane grew up on a farm south of Jett School along the Mississippi River, working in her father’s cotton fields where she said with a twinkle in her eye, “I was his best hoer.” She learned the value of hard work from her parents and her love of history and geography from her favorite teacher, Gertrude Hullum, “who taught us everything.”

Always mischievous, Jane once said she spent so much time in the principal’s office at Jett High School that he thought of making her his secretary.

In her early teens she worked for a florist, and it wasn’t many years before she bought the business, moved it to Drummond Street and named it Jane’s Florist, where she operated the business for 25 years. She didn’t have the “la te dah” customers, she said, but she had the country folks who paid their bills.

Jane had always wanted to see those faraway places, so she sold the business, took some lessons in truck driving and hit the road. For 15 years she drove nationwide, traveling in each of the contiguous 48 states in a big red, always immaculate 18 Wheeler she named Miss Jane. She could have written a book about her experiences on the road, she said, and each chapter would have begun with “you ain’t gonna believe this, but…”

Because of government rules and restrictions she sold the truck and came home to take care of her aging mother. During this time she became a blackjack dealer at Ameristar Casino. She retired to her home on Tiffentown Road “before there was enough traffic to throw out trash.”

Jane never took herself too seriously, facing life head on but always with a keen sense of humor, a very caring person she quietly and anonymously did for others.

In her later years she laughed that she hoped never to look like some older relatives “with a turkey neck, but I think it’s my face falling down, with everything else.”

“My goal is to go to heaven, but I am not fixing to catch the train now” she said in a 2009 interview. “When I get old, I am going to sit on that porch and think of all my wonderful memories.”

Jane was a member of Westminster Presbyterian Church.

She is survived by a daughter, Deborah Jane Powers (Roger) of South Port, N.C.; two sons, Ernest E. Warnock (Renee) of Dallas and Wayne R. Warnock (Cynthia) of Frederick, Md; six grandchildren, Mark Powers, Sarah Warnock, Jessica Fordinal, Edward Warnock, James Virts and Michelle Stitely; five great-grandchildren, Amanda Powers, Joshua Powers, Neva Powers, Zachery Stitely and Jacob Stitely; and other relatives, including Allison Volk, Ed King and Kathy King.

Jane was predeceased by her parents; her granddaughter, Melisa Jane Powers-Oliver; sister, Diane R. King; and her brothers, William (Bill) Ross and Fred Ross.

Services will be 11 a.m. Wednesday, May 6, 2015, at Riles Funeral Home Chapel with Father P. J. Curley, pastor of St. Michael Catholic Church, officiating.

Visitation will be from 10 a.m. Wednesday until the service. Burial will be at Cedar Hill Cemetery. Memorials may be made to Blair E. Batson Children’s Hospital and to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Pallbearers will be Edward Warnock, Mark Powers, Ryan King, Michael Fordinal, Greg Mosley, Fred Holmes, Danny Hoxie and David Hoxie.Honorary pallbearers will be Sonny Vogel, James Virts, Josh Powers, Levi King and Gordon Cotton.