Patricia “Pat” Hankins Shields, 84, died Friday, March 31, 2017, at Oxford Health and Rehab in Oxford. The rosary service will be held Tuesday, April 4, 2017 at 3 p.m. at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church with the funeral mass to follow. Father Joe Tonos will officiate. Burial will follow in St. Peter’s Cemetery. Visitation will be prior to the service beginning at 2 p.m. at the church. Waller Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Born May 8, 1932 in Potts Camp, to the late James B. and Lorraine Evans Hankins, Mrs. Shields graduated from Potts Camp High School as Valedictorian of her graduating class and went on to earn her Bachelors of Business Administration in Accountancy from the University of Mississippi. She was a member of St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church and a former member of St. Andrew’s United Methodist Church. She was retired from the United States government where she worked for 39 years, having served the last 27 years with the Army ROTC at the University of Mississippi. Mrs. Shields was the recipient of many outstanding performance awards every year for 30 years; recipient of GEICO award for community service, one of only 5 awarded annually; the first recipient of the Commanders Civil Service Award, Fort Riley, Kansas; first runner-up for the Women’s Program Employee Award, Fort Riley, Kansas and recipient of the Commander’s Award for Excellence, Fort Riley, Kansas.

Mrs. Shields was a very active volunteer and a member of the Domestic Violence Board of Directors for 11 ½ years. She also served as the Financial Officer and a Counselor. She finalized the funding for the first grant and opened a shelter for abused women and children. Along with her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband, Jimmy M. Shields; daughter, Elizabeth Ann Cook; son, Don P. Cook; sisters, Ann Russell and Dolly Shaw and brothers, James Hankins and Evan Hankins.

Mrs. Shields is survived by her daughter, Lisa Gale Taylor of Oxford; Dave Cook and his wife, Hettie of Buckhead, Georgia; sisters, Sue Gilliam of Memphis, Tennessee and Cindy Walker of Alabama; three grandchildren and six great grandchildren.

Memorial contributions in Mrs. Shields’ memory may be made to the Memphis Union Mission, P.O. Box 1938, Memphis, TN 38101.   

For additional information or to sign an online guestbook, visit www.wallerfuneralhome.com or call 662-234-7971.