Many residents of Petal, Hattiesburg and Forrest County will remember Delbert Dearman as the face who greeted them for more three decades at the Jesse L. Brown Forrest County Tax Services Building in downtown Hattiesburg.
His family will remember him as an efficient, organized and meticulous individual who was extremely devoted to his family, his religion, and his profession.
Delbert, a Petal native who served as tax collector for Forrest County and the City of Hattiesburg for more than 30 years, passed away on July 2 at his home after a decade-long battle with various types of cancer. He was 72 years old.
“The most important thing is, he was a Christian; he was a believer,” Delbert’s son Drew said. “That’s one of the reasons that even though we’re sad, we can rejoice, because we have 100 percent confidence that his faith was in Jesus.
“As (the Book of) Revelation tells us, he’s in a place now where there’s no more sickness, no more pain, no more crying, death has passed away. So we don’t cry because we don’t know; we cry because we miss him. But we are confident that he’s in Heaven now.”
Visitation will be held from 5-7 p.m. July 5 at 40th Avenue Church of God in Hattiesburg. Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. July 6 at the church, with interment to follow in Hillcrest Cemetery in Petal.
Delbert was an active member at that church, where he served as a deacon for several years. In addition to his stints as tax collector for the county and the city, he also was an avid hunter and fisherman.
He is survived by his wife, Gale Dearman of Petal; his sons, Drew Dearman (Stephanie) of Petal, Deric Dearman of Hattiesburg, and Darin Dearman (Lily) of Petal; his grandchildren, Jacob Dearman, Haven Dearman, Leah Martin (Matthew), Autumn Pieper, Willow Dearman, and Sunny Dearman; his brothers, Donald Dearman (Barbara) of Waynesboro and Delton Dearman (Linda) of Monroe, LA; his sister, Diane Kimes (Craig) of Hattiesburg; and numerous nieces and nephews.
“As far as a dad, he was always insecure as a dad, because he didn’t have a dad growing up most of his life – his dad died when he was young of a heart attack,” Drew said. “So (my dad) was always searching out father figures and everything for those examples. When he became a father, he always wanted to make sure that he was going to be a good father since he didn’t have one.
“So he just went out of the way to teach us everything – not only manners and respect, not only taking us to church and the Bible and everything, but I learned how to change a tire when I was young. Before I could drive, I learned how to work on a car and change the oil and things like that – working on dryers and washing machines or whatever, he always taught us life skills and set a good example.”
Delbert also was passionate about painting and was a member of the Southern Mississippi Art Association.
“I was talking to Bobby Walters (of the arts association) yesterday about (dad’s) painting and how he was good at that, and Bobby said, ‘Well, he wasn’t good initially; it’s just that he refused to give up and he kept doing it until he got good at it,’” Drew said. “So there’s that aspect of him that I’ll remember.”
That tenacity and meticulousness will also be remembered by Drew and the rest of the Dearman family.
“Dad was kind of a specialist in several areas,” Drew said. “He was extremely organized, a great administrator – which is why he was so successful as a tax collector – and he kept everything in its place.
“He kept meticulous records of everything, and as a matter of fact, he bought a book called ‘I’m Dead, Now What!’ and he had everything filled out in there before he passed – all the information and everything. So we didn’t have to do anything as far as the funeral and all that, because he had everything already completely planned out and taken care of.”
