Vallie Mae Woods Strachan, 90, died Sunday, June 8, 2025, at Tyler Holmes Memorial Hospital in Winona. Services will be at 2 p.m. on Thursday at North Carrollton Baptist Church, with visitation from 1 p.m. until service time at the church. Interment will follow in Evergreen Cemetery in North Carrollton. The Rev. Owen Hitchcock, the Rev. Edward Carpenter, and the Rev. Archie Goodwin will officiate the services.
Mrs. Strachan was born February 8, 1935, in Carroll County, to the late Willie Wesley Woods and Jimmy Ethel Trotter Woods. She was the youngest of eight children and the last surviving at the time of her death.
Vallie was a member of North Carrollton Baptist Church, where she was recognized in 2024 as the oldest living member, having grown up with her parents as members in the church that she loved. She was a 1954 graduate of J.Z. George High School and that same year, she married the love of her life, 1952 graduate Hubert Strachan. She worked for the Carroll County Public Schools as a teacher’s assistant for twenty nine years at Marshall Elementary School in North Carrollton until her retirement in 1999. She loved her students and remained a part of their life through the years after her retirement, with many cherishing her lifelong friendship with them.
She will always be remembered for her great personality and helping her community, whether it was a cake, card, or hug of friendship, often being the first to help others celebrate a success or lift them up in a time of need. She was preceded in death by her husband of 65 years, Hubert Strachan, and seven brothers and sisters, Tressie Slocum, Connie Noland, William D. “Bud” Woods, Rachel McCluskey, Christine Christoper, Pauline Noland, and Thomas “Jink” Woods.
She is survived by her son, Ken Strachan and wife Shelia of North Carrollton, MS; granddaughter, Kate Strachan Shelton and husband Ethan of Winona, MS; two great grandsons, Herschel Shelton and John “Johnny” Shelton of Winona, MS; and her good friend, Barbara Duke Sheppard of North Carrollton, MS.
Pallbearers will be Casey Carpenter, Jerry Noland, Bill Noland, Josh Hurst, Scottie Thornton, Ethan Shelton, Billy Carter, and Brian Bellman. Honorary pallbearers will be Alan Woods, Charles Holman, Hayes Noland, Larry Blaylock, Matthew Blackmon, Bill Hurst, Henry Allen Dunn, Dustin Haddon, Felip Colon, and Wilton Neal.
Her family extends appreciation to her caregivers who are like family, Shavonya Walls, Vanessa Rias, Glenda Holmes, Willie Mae Gomiller, Barbara Duke Sheppard, Sarah Jackson, and Cee Cee Love.
Memorials may be made to North Carrollton Baptist Church P.O. Box 181, North Carrollton, MS 38947 or St. Jude Children’s Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105.
