Margaret Laurine Fairburn, age 86, of Tylertown, Mississippi, passed away Monday, June 15, 2020, at Asbury Hospice House in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

Miss Fairburn was born on October 30, 1933, in Walthall County, Mississippi, to the late Ben Frank and Leola Jenkins Fairburn. She was a 1951 graduate of Lexie High School.

Miss Fairburn graduated from Clarke Memorial College and Mississippi College before earning a degree in Masters of Religious Education at Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary in California in 1961. She later earned a Master of Divinity from the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in North Carolina in 1987.

Miss Fairburn served as YWA Director for the Baptist Woman's Missionary Union of Oklahoma from 1961-1963 before beginning her life's work as a missionary to the West African country of Liberia.

For 33 years, Miss Fairburn served as a missionary with the Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention in Liberia and the Ivory Coast. During her first 18 years, she worked with Liberian youth organizing Girls' Auxiliary and Royal Ambassadors. God later directed her to new work in Liberia as an evangelist and church planter. She continued this until she relocated to the Ivory Coast to work with Liberian refugees fleeing the First Liberian Civil War in 1991.

After retiring from the mission field in 1996, Miss Fairburn returned to Mississippi where she worked as a Dormitory and Dining Hall Hostess at Blue Mountain College in Blue Mountain, Mississippi. She retired to the Lexie community in 2002.

Miss Fairburn was a member of Lexie Baptist Church where she taught Sunday school and served on various committees. She was a wonderful storyteller and devoted follower of Christ. She was known for her infectious smile, and kind, selfless, compassionate spirit.

A beloved daughter, sister, and aunt, Miss Fairburn is preceded in death by her parents; and siblings, Pauline Skinner, O.D. Fairburn, Mary Dorothy Fairburn, Benny J. Fairburn, Danny Ray Fairburn, Jimmy Ted Fairburn, and Jerry Dale Fairburn. She is survived by her sister, Marie Pope, and many loving nieces and nephews.

Funeral services will be held on Thursday, June 18, 2020 at 10:00 am at Lexie Baptist Church in Tylertown. Interment will be held at Centerville Cemetery. Rev. Randall Griffin will officiate the service. Visitation will be held on Thursday, June 18, 2020 from 9:00 am until 10:00 am at Lexie Baptist Church in Tylertown.