Monroe County Sheriff’s Department mourns loss of deputy after 30 years of service

ABERDEEN, Miss. (WCBI) – On Monday, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department lost one of its own.

Deputy Jimmy Pipkins passed away at the age of 65 after coming down with pneumonia.

As a part-time deputy, he was required to work 30 hours a week. But those who knew him best say that going above and beyond was all in a day’s work for the deputy during his 30 years on the force.

“I’d call him and say ‘Hey, Pip, what’re you doing?'” fellow Deputy Willie Lockett says. “‘Oh, I’m out patrolling the county.’ I said, ‘Well, I need your help tomorrow. Can you come and help me tomorrow?’ he said, ‘Man, I’ll be right there.'”

Deputy Pipkins went by several names at the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department.

“Pip was his nickname,” Deputy Lockett says.

“Most people around here just knew him as 41,” Monroe County Sheriff Kevin Crook says. “He was Monroe 41 and he had been that number for a long time.”

Sheriff Crook had worked with Deputy Pipkins since 1998. The deputy first joined the department in 1992.

“He was willing to do anything,” Sheriff Crook says. “If we needed him to work court, he was going to work court. If we needed him to serve papers, he served papers. Patrol needs him to answer calls? He answers calls.”

Sheriff Crook says it seemed like Deputy Pipkins was always there at the department. Which is one of the reasons why he says it was such a shock when he heard of his passing.

“I had just texted with him a couple of days ago, checking on him, and was hoping he was on the road to recovery,” the sheriff says.

Deputy Pipkins would start each morning during the school year bright and early directing traffic at the Hatley School crosswalk.

“He would park at the crosswalk in front of the school until all those kids were crossed, and then he would shoot down there to the intersection and get the late students through the intersection,” Sheriff Crook says. “And the parents trying to get to work.”

Committed, dedicated, hard-working, loving, caring, and irreplaceable are just some of the words Sheriff Crook used to describe his friend and collegue.

“He loved his family and he really loved being a deputy,” Deputy Lockett says. “He’d do anything to help you. Nice guy. And he did his job and he did it well.”

Deputy Lockett says Pipkins was like a brother to him.

“We would cry together and we would laugh together,” he says. “In good times and bad times.”

Sheriff Crook says that finding a deputy who puts their heart into their job is all one can ask for in his line of work. He says that Deputy Pipkins was that and then some.

“I’m going to miss him being at that crosswalk,” the sheriff says. “And I know those kids are going to miss seeing him as well.”

Sheriff Crook says that Tuesday morning, he made sure plenty of other deputies were there watching over the Hatley School crosswalk for Deputy Pipkins.

Services for Pipkins will be Thursday.