Board & Committees

A founding member of the Board, Julian was elected in 2018 to an 8-year term and re-elected in 2026 for an additional 8-year term, expiring in 2034. He was also elected to serve as Chairman of the Board in 2018 and continues to serve in this capacity.

Re-elected to the LOFC Board in 2026, for an eight- year term, Julian's term will expire in February 2034. He was also elected to serve as Chairman of the Board in 2018 and continues to serve in this capacity.

Born 1945 in Vicksburg, Mississippi, Julian and his parents moved to the family farm in Franklin, a community outside of Lexington, when he was five years old. After graduating from Lexington High School, Julian graduated from Mississippi State University (MSU) with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration in 1968. While at MSU Julian joined the Army Reserve and served for six years. After leaving MSU, Julian moved to Jackson where he worked in the banking industry before focusing on life insurance.

Julian maintains strong ties to Lexington and Holmes County where he owns land that has been in his family since 1872. Over the years and through different generations the land has been used to grow cotton, corn, beef and dairy cattle, race horses, and to house a cotton gin. Thirty-two years ago, Julian converted the land into a successful tree farm. In 2009, the Mississippi Forestry Association selected Julian as the Outstanding Tree Farmer of the Year.

Julian has Watson and Powers family members buried in Lexington Odd Fellows Cemetery.

A founding member of the Board, Ed was elected in 2018 to a 4-year term and in 2026, and re-elected to a third 4-year term, expiring in 2030. Ed was also elected to serve as President in 2018 and continues to serve in this capacity.

Ed Thurmond was elected to the Board in 2018 for a four-year term and re-elected in 2022 for a second four-year term that will expire in February 2026. Ed was also elected to serve as President in 2018 and continues to serve in that capacity.

Ed is a sixth generation Holmes Countian whose ancestors were among the founders of St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Lexington. He received an accounting degree from Mississippi State University and a juris doctorate from University of Mississippi School of Law. After a short stint as a First Lieutenant in the U. S. Army, Ed returned home in 1967 to manage Thurmond's, Inc., a family owned hardware and appliance store from which he has recently retired. He has served the community in many capacities including a term as Mayor of Lexington. He held the position of Treasurer of the Episcopal Diocese of Mississippi for fifteen years and served as District Governor of Rotary International in the year 2020-2021.

Ed is married to the former Fran Walker of Stoneville, Mississippi. They have two children and four grandchildren all who presently reside in the state of Virginia.

Ed is a descendant of the McBee, Herbert, Mattox, and Thurmond families all of which have family members buried in Lexington Odd Fellows Cemetery.

A founding member of the Board, Chris was elected to the Board in 2018 for a 10-year term expiring in 2028. She was also elected as Vice-President and continues to serve in this capacity.

Christine Hearn Hammett was elected to the Board in 2018 for a ten-year term expiring in 2028. She was also elected as Vice-President and continues to serve in that capacity.

Born in Lexington, Chris attended Tchula Consolidated School and graduated from Cruger Tchula Academy. Chris and husband Richard Hammett have three children and seven grandchildren. She has resided in Lexington for fifty years. A retired legal assistant, it is her love of family and friends that keep her busy with various volunteer projects such as the Jennifer Sterling Brown Animal Rescue of Holmes County, as well as LOFC. Chris is a member of Beulah Baptist Church in Lexington. Chris has Hearn, Hammett, Niles, and Malone family buried at Lexington Odd Fellows Cemetery.

Elected in 2022 to fill the remaining terms of Betsy Kimbrough Padgett's unexpired term, expiring in 2028, Leath also serves as Treasurer.

Marion Leath Johnson was elected to the Board in April 2022 to fill the unexpired ten-year term of Betsy Padgett. Leath's term will expire in February 2028. She was also elected as Treasurer, a position in which she continues to serve.

Leath is a fourth generation Holmes countian. She grew up in Lexington and attended Lexington Elementary School, Central Holmes Academy, and Cruger-Tchula Academy where she graduated in 1973. She attended Mississippi State University and received a BA degree with a double major in history and political science in December 1977. After working several years, Leath returned to college and in August 1985, she received a BA Degree in Accounting from Mississippi University for Women.

Leath is a retired Certified Public Accountant. During her career she worked over twenty-five years in public accounting firms, the automotive manufacturing industry, and in the long term healthcare industry. Seventeen of those years, Leath was the Chief Financial Officer of a 180 bed nursing home facility, an 86 unit USDA funded apartment complex, a durable medical equipment company, and a rural health care clinic.

Leath's husband, Guy Conway, died in December 2022 and she continues to live in Tupelo, Mississippi where she is a member of First Presbyterian Church. Leath enjoys flower gardening, photography, and traveling the world.

Many of Leath's relatives from her mother's side of the family, the Stiglers, are buried in Odd Fellows Cemetery. Marion Leath Anderson Stigler, Leath's great-great grandmother for whom Leath is named, is buried in Odd Fellows. Many members of the Clower Johnson family are buried in Odd Fellows and Leath will be the remaining Johnson family member buried in the Johnson plot.

Elected in 2025 to fill Phil Cohen's unexpired term, expiring in 2030, Gina also serves as Secretary.

Gina was elected to the Board in 2025 to fill the unexpired 4 year term of Phil Cohen, whose term expires in 2026. She presently serves as Secretary.

Born and raised in Lexington, Gina was in the first graduating class of Central Holmes Academy, now Central Holmes Christian Academy. She attended Holmes Junior College, now Holmes Community College, for one year, and attended summer school at Mississippi State. Gina transferred to the University of Texas at Austin, where she obtained a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in accounting. After completing her studies, she moved to Dallas, where she worked in accounting at a manufacturing firm. Gina was then hired as a healthcare auditor for an insurance intermediary that administered the Medicare program in Texas, and later, in surrounding states. Gina eventually trained new hires in the healthcare audit field. For one special assignment, she was on loan to the FBI for a healthcare fraud case that garnered national attention. Gina was at the intermediary for 34 years when she retired.

In retirement, Gina performs consulting audits for companies in several different markets.

With the death of her father, Herbert, Gina assumed management of Hyman Real Estate in the early 1990s and began spending more time in Lexington. Gina and her family of cats currently divide time between Lexington and Dallas. Her significant other of nearly 18 years, Tim Hansen, loved Lexington and is buried at Lexington Odd Fellows Cemetery, along with Gina's parents and grandparents.

Elected to the Board in 2021 to fill the unexpired six-year term of her brother Allie Stuart Povall, Jr., she was re-elected for a 6-year term expiring in 2032.

Amanda Povall Gibbs was elected to Board in 2021 to fill the unexpired six-year term of her brother Allie Stuart Povall, Jr. Upon the retirement of Pat Barrett, Jr. as treasurer, Amanda was elected treasurer, later served as secretary and presently serves as editor of the newsletter.

Although Amanda was born in Greenwood, she spent her early life in Lexington, her father's ancestral home. Amanda attended Lexington public schools and graduated from Lexington High School in 1964. While at Ole Miss, Amanda served as President of CWENS, Vice-President of her sorority, Secretary of the Associated Student Body, was inducted into the 1968 Ole Miss Hall of Fame and graduated with a BA in English. After graduation she joined the staff of Congressman G. V. "Sonny" Montgomery in Washington. In 1969 she had an opportunity to travel to Japan where she remained and worked as a secretary at IBM's Far Eastern Headquarters in Tokyo. During that time, she met and married her British husband, William. In 1975 Amanda, William and their son Ian moved to Scotland, the ancestral home of her husband, where their daughter Lillian was born. In 1976 William accepted a position in New York City, so the family of four moved to the suburban town of Westport, Connecticut. In 1981 they welcomed their third child, Alexander. For more than twenty-five years, Amanda and William ran a successful international business importing and exporting publication grade paper, while raising their family in Westport.

In 2001, after the death of Alexander, Amanda returned to school where she received a Juris Doctorate from Quinnipiac University School of Law in 2004. After graduation she accepted a position as an associate at The Tollison Law Firm in Oxford, practicing primarily plaintiff's work, and in 2007 she joined Hickman, Goza and Spragins, also in Oxford, practicing insurance defense and estate law. In 2016 Amanda retired from the practice of law. Sadly in 2007 her husband William died. In 2023 she married the Ole Miss football and baseball sports legend Jake Gibbs. She and Jake continue to live in Oxford, where they enjoy all the opportunities a university town provides.

Family names buried at LOFC are Povall, Sessions, Wright, Oltenburg, and Eggleston.

A founding member of the Board, Harold was elected in 2018 to a 6-year term and re-elected for a second 6-year term, expiring in 2032.

Harold Pinkney Hammett, Jr. was elected to the Board in 2018 for a six-year term, which expires in February, 2026.

Born and raised in Lexington, Harold attended Lexington public schools and graduated from Lexington High School in 1960. Following high school graduation, he attended Holmes Community College from 1960-1961 and Millsaps College from 1961-1962. In early 1962, he left Millsaps and enlisted in the United States Air Force. During his time in the USAF, Harold served in Misawa, Japan, and Pershawa, West Pakistan. From 1966-1968, he attended the University of Mississippi where he received a degree in business administration.

In 1968, Harold moved to Dallas, Texas to work for Container Corporation of America. During his time in Texas, he met his wife, Jacquelyn Forney of San Antonio. Jackie and Harold married in July 1969 and moved to Lexington. During the summer of 1969, Harold began working at Hammett Gravel Company. Harold is currently the owner and operator of Hammett Gravel Company.

Harold and Jackie have three children and seven grandchildren.

Elected in 2025 to fill the unexpired term of Jonathan Barrett, Danny was re-elected for an 8-year term expiring in 2034.

Brigadier General Daniel G. "Danny" Pepper was elected in 2025 to fill remaining years of Jonathan Barrett's unexpired term expiring in 2026. Pepper was re-elected for an eight year term in 2026 expiring in 2034.

Daniel G. (Danny) Pepper was born in Lexington, Mississippi and is a sixth generation Holmes Countian. His relatives in LOFC include over sixty members of the Pepper, Stansbury, Gibson, and Wallace families. In 1970, he married the former Odessa Kellum, of Lexington, and they have two children, five grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.

Danny's civilian career was in the education field as a teacher, coach, counselor, and school administrator. From 1985 to 1993, he was Principal of Clinton Junior High School in Clinton, Mississippi.

Danny began his military career in 1969 and retired as a Brigadier General in 2008. He returned to active duty as commander of the Mississippi National Guard's Drug Task Force for his final fifteen years of service. His service included active duty during the Vietnam Era, Operation Desert Storm, Operation Noble Eagle, Operation Enduring Freedom, and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Brig. Gen. Pepper's awards include the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star Medal with oak leaf cluster, the Meritorious Service Medal with two oak leaf clusters, the National Defense Service Medal with two stars, the Humanitarian Service Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Medal, The Iraq Campaign Medal, the Mississippi Magnolia Cross with one oak leaf cluster, the Mississippi Magnolia Medal, the Mississippi Emergency Service Medal with three oak leaf clusters, the Mississippi War Medal with one oak leaf cluster, and two Overseas Service Ribbons.