Mattie Lou (Norris) Bynum

PERRY – Mattie Lou (Norris) Bynum, 95, passed away unexpectedly on Wednesday, April 22, 2026, after a brief illness. Funeral Services will be held on Tuesday, April 28, 2026, at First Baptist Church of Perry. Visitation will be held from 10:00 until 11:00 a.m. and will be followed by the funeral beginning at 11:00 a.m. Interment will be in Perry Memorial Gardens immediately following the service.

Mrs. Bynum was born in Black, Alabama to the late David and Claudia Bell Norris. She was a rare homemaker her entire life, making sure her home and family were lovingly cared for. She was well known for her pound cakes, pecan pies, and canned goods, especially her jellies! She entered jams and many of her canned goods at the Perry National Fair and won blue ribbons often. She loved gardening with her husband, and either canning or freezing the vegetables they grew. Even in her later years, she kept a raised bed garden in her backyard, still enjoying the process of growing food to eat and share with others. She loved to go fishing and continued even in her 90’s to enjoy her time at a pond, pulling in the “big one” and letting out a gleeful yell.

Mrs. Bynum was a long-time member of First Baptist Church of Perry and especially loved her class known as the Joy Sunday School Class. She was a person who consistently wrote letters or sent birthday cards to family and friends. Her grandchildren and great-grandchildren loved getting their birthday cards from “Ma”.

Mattie Lou was predeceased by her loving and devoted husband of 64 years, Drew Bynum; her brother, David Norris, Jr.; her sisters, Jessie Hutto and Johnnie Greninger; her half-sister, Linda Grayson; and her stepsister, “Midget” Trent.

Left to cherish the memories they made with Mattie Lou are her daughters and sons-in-law, Patsy and Stewart Newberry of Montezuma, Sheila and Charlie Steck of Concord, GA, and Donna and Ray Waldbusser of Newport, NC; 7 grandchildren; 16 great-grandchildren; her half-brother, Jerry Norris; and several nieces, nephews, great-nieces, and great-nephews.

Condolences for the family may be left in the online guestbook at https://www.watsonhunt.com. Watson-Hunt Funeral Home has been entrusted with the arrangements.