By Alyssa Schnugg
News Editor
alyssa.schnugg@hottytoddy.com
Annie Lee Burt, a mother to 11 children, was publicly recognized for her service to the Oxford community Tuesday by the Oxford Board of Aldermen.
Burt, who turns 100 years old on June 9, made it her life’s work to serve her community.
Born Annie Lee Jones, she married Linder Burt and the couple had 11 children. She is a longtime member of Mt. Hope Missionary Baptist Church where she’s served on the Missions and Mother Board for decades.
Burt helped to implement the Federal Head Start program in Lafayette County. A paralegal with North Mississippi Rural Legal Services for 25 years, she helped countless families receive benefits.
Burt has been recognized for many achievements: Best Dressed Professional Woman of Oxford, Mississippi, recipient of the Harriet Tubman Award from the Magnolia Bar Association and Foundation, 1999 Mother of the Year, and NAACP Woman of the Year Award for 2000.
Burt dedicated her services to the elderly by volunteering with AARP, Meals on Wheels and as a board member for LIFT, Inc.
Her daughter, Effie Burt, accompanied her Monday and thanked the Board of Aldermen for recognizing her mother’s accomplishments. She asked them to further honor her mother by supporting Memory Makers, a respite day program for caregivers and persons with dementia.
“There’s a growing need for this program. They now have a waiting list. They need additional funding and space,” she told the Aldermen. “Having a safe place that I can take my mom when I have to go out … it’s absolutely wonderful. She has a great time socializing, exercising, dancing in her chair and singing when she’s at Memory Makers.”
