Funeral services were held Friday, Sept. 9, 2022, at Holly Spring Methodist Church in Bassfield, for Rev. John Napoleon Bass, 82, who died Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2022, at Marion General Hospital in Columbia. Johnson Funeral Home was in charge of arrangements.

Rev. John Bass was born to the late Alexander Bass and Edna Bass in Bassfield. He united with Holly Springs Methodist Church at a young age and was instrumental in organizing the youth and young adult choir, becoming the youth choir director and organizing the Trudie Hawkins and Song Festival.

He graduated from Carver High School in 1960.  He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Language Arts from Jackson State University, Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education from Mississippi Industrial College, Master’s degree from the University of Southern Mississippi. He also matriculated at Ole Miss and Mississippi State University. He served as an educator on the elementary, high school and college level. he retired from teaching after 30 years of service and served on the Jefferson Davis County School Board for six years.  Rev. Bass started the Carver High School Reunion after Carver High School was integrated and became Carver Elementary School.

Rev. Bass was called into the ministry in 1975. He earned a Master of Divinity from the Interdenominational Theological Center (ITC) in Atlanta, Georgia.  He pastored Trinity CME Church in Toccoa, Georgia. He returned to the Mississippi Conference and was admitted to full connection; as a pastor in full connection, he served in the North-East Mississippi Conference and the Mississippi South conference. During his tenure in Mississippi, he served as pastor of the following churches: St. Paul in Smithville, Jennings Temple in Greenwood, Newell Chapel in Meridian, Little Mount in Utica and Zionell in Mt. Olive. he retired in 2014 as a pastor in the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church.

He was preceded in death by two brothers, Ludus Bass and Willie Glenn Bass; one brother reported missing, Earl Bass; four sisters, Celestine Fairman, Virginia Adams, Vera Bass and Lela Bass.

He is survived by two sisters, Frankie Jean (Hollis) Booth and Evelyn Haley and many other relatives and friends.