MANTACHIE - Janette Stephens Cates passed away peacefully with family by her side March 12, 2019, at North Mississippi Medical Center. Born in 1933, she was the daughter and only child of Hubert Byron and Fay Rogers Stephens. She was a lifelong resident of Itawamba County, attended Mantachie high school, and was a member of Lakeland Baptist Church. Janette married Hoyte Cates in 1951. She worked various jobs until she answered her true calling and graduated LPN school. She loved helping people and retired from Daniels Nursing home where she worked in the Alzheimer's unit.

Janette enjoyed reading, sewing, completing sudoku and crossword puzzles, playing Bingo, and telling stories about her childhood. Her proudest accomplishment was her family. Janette was a devoted wife, attentive grandmother, and caring great grandmother. Lovingly known as Mawmaw Net, she will dearly missed by her loved ones. No one ever entered her home without being offered food and never left without getting a hug and hearing I love you. She had been a resident of The Meadows in Fulton, Mississippi, for the past 8 months.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, and a grandson, Austin Davis.

Janette leaves behind a lasting legacy of her two daughters, Cathy Franks of Mantachie and Carolyn Davis (Barry) of Kirkville; four grandchildren, Laura Martin (Blake) of Booneville, Matthew Pettigo (Angie) of Mantachie, Joshua Davis (Sarah) of Dorsey, Alex Davis (Danielle) of Dorsey; eleven great grandchildren including Desirae Ivy of Saltillo, Stephen and Phillip Henson of Booneville, Mattie Pettigo and her mother Donna Wilson of Saltillo, Bo River Davis and his mother Beth Loague (Dave) of Dorsey, Alexis and Kaden Pettigo of Mantachie, Kaleb and Kullen Davis of Dorsey, and Holt and Magnolia Davis of Dorsey.

Pallbearers will be Alex Davis, Blake Martin, Dave Loague, Matthew Pettigo, Phillip Henson, and Stephen Henson.

Services will be at 4 p.m. Saturday, March 16, at the McNeece-Morris Funeral Home Chapel in Mantachie. Visitation will be from 2 to 4pm at the funeral home. Burial will be in Stephens Cemetery in Mantachie.