THE OBITUARY Our beloved, Bessie Leatric Spruill Mims, peacefully transitioned from her earthly home to her heavenly rest on January 18, 2026, at Sinai Hospital in the city of Baltimore, Maryland. She was born to the late James Albert Spruill and Beulah Smith Spruill on November 4, 1938, in Halifax County, North Carolina. She was united in holy matrimony to the late James Mims. Bessie attended Halifax County public schools and was a 1956 graduate of Brawley High School in Scotland Neck, North Carolina. At a young age, Bessie accepted the Lord as her Savior and joined Kehukie Missionary Baptist Church. After high school, she relocated to Baltimore and gained employment at Johns Hopkins Hospital, where she faithfully served for 44 years before retiring in 2000. She was an active member of New Union Baptist Church in the city of Baltimore, Maryland, until her health began to fail. Bessie also found sisterhood through her membership in the Order of the Eastern Star. Bessie was preceded in death by her brother, James Albert Spruill, Jr. She leaves to cherish her memory: two daughters, Latricia Mims of the home and Vanessa Lewis of Scotland Neck, North Carolina; three sisters, Hattie Stroman of Magnolia, Delaware, Jannie Berry of Ambler, Pennsylvania, and Daisy Spruill of Elkins Park, Pennsylvania; five grandchildren; sixteen great-grandchildren; one Aunt, Clara Haynes of Jacksonville, FL; a special lifelong sister-friend, Sarah Hinton; and a host of loving nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends. We thank God for the gift of her life and rejoice in the promise that we will see her again.