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Coach Deer was born on October 29, 1933 in Simpson County to parents Griffin and Mae Lee Deer. He was a graduate of Pinola High School, Col-Lin Junior College and went on to graduate from Mississippi College. He was a member of First Baptist church in Mendenhall. He married his sweetheart, Frances Elaine McDaniels on December 13, 1958. Coach Deer taught school and coached girls’ basketball at Topeka-Tilton for 8 years, 1962-1970; Pinola for 1 year, 1970-1971; and Mendenhall for 24 year, 1971-1995. He made numerous trips to state tournaments at the Coliseum, where he won overall state in 1990. He was Coach of the Year and also was accepted into the Coaches Hall of Fame in 1990. His overall record was 607 wins 245 losses. He always had outstanding teams, great players and good students.
Visitation will be held on Saturday, May 18, 2019 from 12:00PM until 2:00PM at the Colonial Chapel Funeral Home in Mendenhall. Funeral services will be held Saturday, May 18, 2019 at 2:00PM at Colonial Chapel Funeral in Mendenhall. Bro. Roger Lee and Bro. Ed McDaniels will officiate. Colonial Chapel Funeral Home of Mendenhall is in charge of arrangements. (601) 849-5032.
Coach Deer is preceded in death by his parents and by his sisters: Emmylou Brown and Patsy Deer.
He is survived by his wife Frances; sisters Lanell Smith (late husband Reggie Smith) and Charlene Berry (Rayford Berry); brothers Bobby Deer (late wife Faye Deer) and Sammy Deer (Pam) along with numerous nieces, nephews and cousins.
Coach Deer will be dearly missed by all those who knew and loved him.
The Deer family would like to extend a very special thanks to Hospice Ministries and Leisa Berry for the amazing care and love that has been shown to Coach Deer. We are forever thankful for all who were involved in his care.







always knew his dad as Grif. Dear,cannot remember Marshall’s nickname right now,but new the family well,they lived not to far from us,up river road, i think it used to be called gatesville rd.where i live now.Grif owned an drove the school bus an Marshall drove a lot too,they were really good people,always went to fair on school bus,i don’t think Grif. had to much trouble out of students as i remember,it was outta respect for him an Marshall also,well i guess i’ll close now,he lived to a ripe old age,i wrote another obituary but did not save it,i didn’t know you had to log in to post,Robert Allen also known as ted as nickname