Pearl Irene Taliaferro

Pearl Irene Taliaferro died in Hattiesburg on August 30, 2026. She was 91. Born in Hattiesburg on May 18, 1935, with Southern Gulf roots that shaped the table more than the flag. She learned early that a day is something you finish, not something you wait for. She sold bread and patience in equal measure. A flour-dusted apron waited on a hook; regulars came for rolls and left with advice. Colleagues still mention a flour-dusted apron on a hook. She married Clarence in 1961. They kept a house that stayed modest when the neighborhood did not. They raised three children through public schools and ordinary weather. After Clarence died in 2019, she kept the routines that still made sense: the walk, the garden, the Sunday call. Neighbors remember quiet help with a stuck mailbox or a heavy trash can. She liked early mornings before the heat or the noise. She died in Hattiesburg, among streets she never needed to explain. The garden will come up next spring without being told.