The Honorable Mary Jo Haywood

The Honorable Mary Jo Haywood entered eternal rest on April 24, 2026, leaving behind a life distinguished by faith, perseverance, family, public service, advocacy, and history-making leadership.

She was born in 1948 to Nathan “Jr.” Haywood and Christine Wilson Haywood. As a child, she joined Oak Grove Missionary Baptist Church, the spiritual home that helped form her faith, values, and understanding of service. That foundation remained central throughout her life and was later reflected in her work as a Sunday School teacher, civic leader, advocate, and mayor.

From an early age, Mary Jo gave evidence of the leader she would become. She did not simply attend school; she excelled. She served as class president, an early sign that others trusted her voice and recognized her capacity for leadership. She became Miss Camilla Consolidated High School, and in 1966, she graduated as valedictorian.

Mary Jo did not understand her life merely through the language of ambition or achievement. She understood it first as divine calling. When asked by her granddaughter, Jordan, during an interview for a high school documentary about her life to identify the prime movers of her journey, she explained that those influences “were defined before I was born by divine destiny.” Her first compass was Jeremiah 29:11: “For I know the plan I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

That conviction sustained her through difficult and demanding circumstances. While she was a freshman in college, her mother died suddenly. Only months after that devastating loss, Mary Jo gave birth to her only child, Dr. Chanta M. Haywood. She was called, while still young herself, to carry responsibilities of raising her daughter and her six orphaned siblings with the help of family and loved ones.

Chanta was born to Mary Jo and the late Reverend Alonzo Smith Sr., whose later marriage to Alice Smith brought her beloved paternal siblings Reverend Alonzo Smith Jr., Dr. Kimberley Smith, and Dr. Trevena Favors. Through Chanta’s marriage to Attorney Gary Roberts, Mary Jo became the proud grandmother of Jordan, Logan, and Kalen Roberts, who were among the greatest joys of her life.

In the years that followed, Mary Jo built a life grounded in work, service, and public purpose. Before joining Georgia Legal Services, she served as a teacher’s aide with the Mitchell County School System. She later became a senior paralegal with the Georgia Legal Services Program and also worked as a self-employed paralegal, specializing in Social Security disability cases.

Her labor contributed to a historic milestone in her community. Working alongside her son-in-law, Attorney Gary Roberts, she served as his paralegal and played an instrumental role in the opening of his firm, Roberts and Giddings, the first Black law firm in Camilla.

Her voice extended beyond the courtroom, the classroom, and city chambers. She contributed to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and frequently wrote editorials for local and regional newspapers, using the written word as another form of advocacy and public witness.

Her civic and political life emerged from that same foundation. She held active leadership roles within the NAACP, including service as branch and district secretary, and became deeply involved in voter registration, educational campaigns, and legal actions aimed at advancing equity in city employment and public life.

During the Atlanta Child Murders investigation, she helped lead fundraising efforts in response to a tragedy that wounded Black families across Georgia and the nation. She also became a respected political strategist, offering insight and organizing skill to leaders including State Representative Winfred Dukes and U.S. Congressman Charles Hatcher. In 1988, she served as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention during the historic presidential campaign of Reverend Jesse Jackson.

In Camilla, Mary Jo maintained a solo vigil for years to honor and remember the victims of the 1868 Camilla Massacre, refusing to allow their names, suffering, and historical significance to be forgotten. Among the causes especially dear to her was the effort to honor Georgia B. Williams, affectionately known as Miss Bea, the midwife who delivered more than 5,000 babies during a time when segregation and exclusion denied many Black women full access to hospital care. She served on the committee connected to the historic Georgia B. Williams Nursing Home and advocated for the preservation of Miss Bea’s legacy.

Through all of this, Mary Jo never abandoned her own dream of higher education, which came to fulfillment in 1995, when she earned her degree from Albany State University with honors, completing a journey that had stretched across twenty-eight years of responsibility, work, sacrifice, and persistence. That same year, her daughter received her Ph.D. from the University of California, San Diego. Mother and daughter laughed together about the wonder of it all and joked that, with both of them reaching such milestones, they ought to go to Disney World. It was more than a joke. It was the joy of two generations seeing sacrifice, study, and perseverance come to fruition at the same time.

Her public service continued to expand. She served on the Mitchell County Board of Education, the Mitchell County Board of Tax Assessors, the Executive Board of the Mitchell County NAACP, and the committee connected to the historic Georgia B. Williams Nursing Home. She was also active in organizations including the Camilla Chamber of Commerce, Kiwanis International, and the O.E.S., while serving faithfully as a Sunday School teacher at Oak Grove Missionary Baptist Church.

In 2000, Mary Jo co-founded the Wil-Wood Foundation, Inc. with her daughter, Chanta, extending her commitment to creating pathways for young people in Camilla. Through that work, scholarships and opportunities were provided to local students, reflecting her belief that service must open doors for the next generation.

Her life of service received significant recognition, though recognition was never the reason she served. In 2007, she was inducted into the Southern Rural Black Women’s Hall of Fame. In 2008, she was recognized as a Georgia State Conference NAACP Woman of Distinction. She also received numerous service awards, including two Congressional Service Awards and recognition from Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and the Southeast Regional NAACP.

The leadership visible in her youth would later find its fullest public expression in elected office. On November 6, 2007, Mary Jo Haywood made history when she was elected the first woman and first African American mayor of Camilla, Georgia. She was sworn in on January 14, 2008, and served one full term from 2008 to 2012 with distinction. Her election marked a defining moment in the city’s civic life and representation. Her tenure reflected her long-standing commitment to transparency, equity, accountability, and the conviction that government should serve all of its people.

Before, during, and after her time in office, Mayor Haywood remained a steadfast advocate for fairness. The City of Camilla later recognized that her efforts toward equality in city employment continued to shape the city’s public life. In February 2024, the City dedicated and renamed its executive meeting chamber at City Hall in her honor, establishing the Honorable Mary Jo Haywood Council Chambers as a lasting tribute to her leadership and service.

Her sense of duty extended far beyond public office. She embraced the sacred responsibility of legally raising her nephews and niece, Sedrick Hodge (Tracie), Adrian Haywood (Shantrell), Monique Haywood, and Carlus Haywood. She also held a wide and cherished place in the lives of her nieces and nephews, including Anthony Lumpkin, Buffy Lumpkin, Terrance “Gil” Lumpkin, Temeika “MiMi” Jenkins, Frizell Crump, William Haywood, Kelvin Haywood, Bridgett Bonaparte, Willie Bonaparte, Yolanda Bonaparte, Nicole Brimberry, Kasandra Robinson, Virgil Robinson, JaQuon Haywood, ShaQuanda Haywood, Ashanti Harrison, Aziah Haywood, and Kaleb Hodge; and her great-nieces and great-nephews, Joshua Haywood and Jiana Haywood. She also shared a special bond with her beloved goddaughter, Dr. Taneisha Knight and her mother, Keva Quimberly.

Mary Jo was richly blessed with friendships that sustained her across every season of life. She treasured the laughter, prayers, counsel, visits, and steady presence of many dear friends, including a beloved circle of confidants whose voices and words of love comforted her in her final days: Ruthie Caldwell, Johnnie Graham, Winnie Saunders, Yvonne Griffin, Rhunette Williford, Beverly Poon, Jackie Bryant, Annie Lee Gilbert, Patricia Stubbs, Monty Sanders, Tony White, Winston Ross, Lillie Threats, Nyota Tucker, and James Bush. The family also lovingly acknowledges the many friends, classmates, church members, neighbors, and community members whose love for her was deep and enduring.

As with many lives of depth and consequence, hers was marked by both love and loss. She was preceded in death by her parents, Nathan “Jr.” Haywood and Christine Wilson Haywood; her brothers, Willie Haywood and Nathan Haywood; her sisters, Amber Kaye Haywood, Vivian Haywood Lumpkin, and Christy Ann Sanders; her father’s oldest child, Willie Carol Arline; and her nephews, Anthony Lumpkin and Carlus Haywood.

She leaves to cherish her memory her daughter, Dr. Chanta M. Haywood; her grandchildren, Jordan, Logan, and Kalen, and their father, Gary Roberts; her siblings, Rita Haywood and Cecil Haywood; her extended family; and all those who knew her as counselor, champion, strategist, writer, organizer, mayor, mother, grandmother, Auntie, and friend.

To speak rightly of Mary Jo Haywood is to speak of a woman who lived with purpose and perseverance. She believed that God had a plan for her life, and by His grace she became what she was called to be. And if she could speak to those mourning her now, perhaps she would call each person to adhere to French philosopher, Frantz Fanon’s admonition to define their own personal mission and to refuse to betray it. That was how she lived. That is what she leaves.

She was loved deeply. She served faithfully. She led courageously. And by the grace of God, she became what she was called to be.