Michael Kevin Strawberry

PORT GIBSON, MS: Graveside services for Michael Kevin Strawberry, 48, who died Wednesday, October 30, 2024, at the Claiborne County Medical Center, will be held at 11a.m., Monday, November 4, 2024 at Thompson Memorial Garden Cemetery with Rev. Dr. Ray Earl Coleman officiating. Thompson Funeral Home, Inc. of Port Gibson is in charge of the arrangements. Visitation will be Sunday, from 1p.m. until 3 p.m. at the Thompson Funeral Home Chapel. The lineup will leave Thompson Funeral Home at 10:30a.m.  We are asking for everyone to line up there.

Mr. Strawberry was acquisitions librarian and public services director at the J.D. Boyd Library at Alcorn State University prior to working as the director at the Judge George W. Armstrong Library in Natchez, MS.  He also worked as a high school English instructor at Central Alternative School in the Natchez-Adams School District. Strawberry earned his bachelor’s degree in English from Alcorn State University and two master’s degrees: the first from Mississippi State University in Workforce Education and the second from the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas, in Library and Information Science.   With the library being one of the places people can do job applications and search for employment sources, Michael worked hard to make sure the building was safe and accessible when people needed it. Mr. Strawberry was a kind person. He loved people, and you never saw him when he was not smiling and offering a way to help someone else. He had a heart, especially for children, as seen in all he did to create special events to draw our young citizens to the world of reading. He was a consistent communicator who made certain everyone was informed about what was going on, not only at the library but in his community, with his class, Port Gibson High School class of 1995 and with his family family.

He was preceded in death by his mother, Mary Alice Strawberry.

Mr. Strawberry is survived by two brothers, Percy Reed and Rev. Charles (Adrianne) Reed, both of Port Gibson, MS; four sisters, Patricia Byrd and Chunda (Dontrell) Wade , both of Port Gibson, MS, Alicia Strawberry of Douglasville, GA and Wanda (Phillip) Cole of Hammond, LA; his father, Nathaniel Conway of Port Gibson, MS; special friend, Gregory Brown of Port Gibson, MS; special nieces, and nephews that he raised, Robin Byrd, Robert Byrd III, Ka’Mya Byrd, Kamryn Johnson, Karsyn Benson and Lakeshia Reed; godchildren, Tre Gusta and Olivia Gusta and a host of other relatives and friends.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Michael Kevin Strawberry, please visit our floral store.