Tamara Kaye Brodie

Coleman Funeral Home of Southaven Tamara Kaye "Tami" Brodie August 1, 1966 - September 4, 2026 Tamara Kaye "Tami" Brodie, 60, of Southaven, Mississippi, passed away on September 4, 2026, at Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. Tami was born on August 1, 1966, in Columbus, Mississippi, to Louis Oliver and the late Edna "Ann" Hicks Oliver. She grew up in Arkansas, where she built a life centered around learning, family, friendship, and a healthy appreciation for the things that made her happy. Tami married her high school sweetheart, and together they built a beautiful family. She went on to earn her Associate's degree from Westark, her Bachelor's degree from Arkansas Tech University, and her Master's degree from the University of Mississippi. She became an inspirational teacher who cared deeply about her students and believed in the power of education. Her love of learning followed her throughout her life, as did her love of reading. But anyone who knew Tami knows that her degrees and career only tell a small part of her story. Tami loved the beach. She loved the sand, the sun, the trips with friends, and the simple happiness of having her toes in the water. She loved laughing, even though she always insisted that everyone else was much funnier than she was. The truth is, Tami had a quick wit of her own and a way of delivering a perfectly timed comment that could catch you completely off guard. She also loved her children more than they will ever fully know. And Tami was the kind of mother who made people feel at home-even when they weren't hers. She never turned away someone who needed a place to stay. Friends of her children could show up, stay the night, and know they were welcome. She might even make a Walmart run for snacks for them while her own child wasn't even home. That was Tami: if you were important to someone she loved, you mattered to her too. And then there was being a Mimi. Like her own mother, Ann, Tami was a Mimi. She poured that same special kind of love into her grandchildren, Elliana and Theodore, and being their grandmother became one of the great joys of her life. Tami also had a particular way of expressing herself. But underneath all of the jokes, the beach trips, the books, the vodka Red Bulls, and the middle fingers was something much simpler and much bigger: Tami loved her family. She loved her sister, Lori. She loved her children, Kyle and Alyssa, more than they will ever know. And she loved her grandchildren with the kind of love that doesn't need an explanation. Kyle could never say "I love you" to his mother without hearing the same response: "I love you more." And she meant it. Tami is survived by her sister, Lori Pollard; her children, Kyle Brodie and Alyssa Weeks; her father, Louis Oliver; and her grandchildren, Elliana and Theodore Weeks. She was preceded in death by her mother, Ann Oliver. Tami leaves behind students who learned from her, friends who were always welcome in her home, family who were loved beyond measure, and grandchildren who will grow up knowing how fiercely their Mimi loved them. She leaves behind stories, inside jokes, beach memories, books, dinners, laughter, and enough little pieces of herself scattered among the people she loved to make sure she will never really feel gone. And if there is, in fact, an afterlife with an ocean nearby, we can only hope she has already found a beach chair. A visitation will be held Tuesday, September 8, 2026, from 5:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. at Coleman Funeral Home of Southaven, 626 Star Landing Road East, Southaven, Mississippi 38672. A celebration of life will follow at 6:00 p.m. in the chapel.