12/23/2025
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Carolyn Donnell Aden, of Jackson, MS, died on Thursday, December 11, 2025, at St. Catherine’s Village in Madison, MS.
A Celebration of Life will be held on Monday, December 29, 2025, at Northminster Baptist Church, 3955 Ridgewood Road, Jackson, MS. Visitation will take place in the Great Hall beginning at 10:00 a.m. followed by the service at 11:00 a.m. in the Sanctuary. Inurnment will follow in the Columbarium at Northminster.
Carolyn was born in Pelahatchie, MS on February 28, 1939, to Roma May Donnell and Robert Ellis Donnell. She grew up in Jackson, graduating from Provine High School in 1957 and then from Mississippi College in Clinton, MS, with a B.S. in Home Economics. She taught for several years in the Jackson Public Schools, work that reflected her lifelong love of caring for others.
Carolyn married Dr. Barry Aden on July 28, 1962, at Calvary Baptist Church in Jackson, where she had been raised and baptized. Together, they built a life in Jackson and raised four daughters, creating a home marked by warmth and hospitality.
The kitchen was definitely the heart of the Aden home. A phenomenal cook, Carolyn always had delicious meals on the stove. Her girls remember spending time cooking with her, doing homework at the kitchen table, or sitting in the chairs at the kitchen window talking and laughing and, in the summers, shelling butter beans and peas together. At Christmas, the kitchen came alive with gingerbread men, hot chocolate, and spiced tea made as gifts for friends and neighbors.
Her daughters treasure her recipe box and cookbooks. If one can’t find a recipe, one of the other three has it. Family favorites include pimento cheese, pecan and lemon chess pies, and pound cake. Friends who stopped by the house rarely left empty handed, whether with soup from the big pot on the stove or a jar of that delicious pimento cheese. Carolyn shared not only her food, but also her home, always ready to host a gathering or set an extra place or two at the table.
Carolyn was also a gifted seamstress. Every Easter there were newly sewn linen and lace dresses for her daughters, and many of their school clothes passed through her hands. Every year, often in four more newly sewn dresses, her daughters were rounded up like clock work for the annual Christmas Card picture. Year after year, they protested but treasure those pictures now.
More than anything, Carolyn loved people. One of the kindest people anyone could know, she rarely met a stranger. Conversations often ended with the discovery of shared friends. She cherished her many close friendships, but she would say, without hesitation, that the great loves of her life were her husband, Barry, her four daughters, and her four grandchildren.
Carolyn was a devoted member of Northminster Baptist Church, where she quietly served through the Caregivers Committee, Meals on Wheels, and other ministries. She was a longtime member of the Mary Foose Sunday School Class, a place of friendship and faith that mattered deeply to her.
She is preceded in death by her parents and by her husband. She is survived by her daughters, Anne Russell Aden Bradley (Dr. Scott) of Hattiesburg, MS, Leigh Aden Box (Mike) of Madison, MS, Katherine Aden Rhodes (Patrick) of New Braunfels, TX, Barrie Aden Mahaffey (Dr. Eddie) of Brandon, MS, and her grandchildren Aden Marie Burchak Peroutek (Michael), Coleman Joseph Mahaffey, Andrew Lamar Mahaffey, and Nicholas Gordon Mahaffey.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorials be made to Northminster Baptist Church.
