Fannie Godwin, a courageous fighter for the poor, an avid advocate for better education for all children and a staunch defender of women’s rights, died November 27, 2024. She was 81. Working much of her life in the legal system, her lawyer friends often remarked that she was “a better lawyer than most lawyers.” As a paralegal, she worked closely with Sylvia Roberts, an attorney known for her successful litigation on behalf of women – one of Fannie’s “cause celebres.” Fannie was also proud of her work for Ed Steimel, then-president of the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry. Ed’s word for Fannie: “fearless.” In the 1970s, as a “boardwatcher,” Fannie was a fierce critic of the East Baton Rouge Parish school system. Newspaper accounts of school board meetings featured her probing (and often stinging) questions and comments. Fannie was born Jan. 21, 1943, in Columbia Mississippi to Marshall Stone Coman and Bertha Mullins Coman. She was a 1961 graduate of West Marion High School in Foxworth, Mississippi. Fannie was preceded in death by her brother James “Jimmy” Coman, sister Marsha Coman and her “special” sister Ester Coman, whom she lovingly cared for until Ester’s death. In addition to her parents, she is survived by her devoted daughter Vivian Marie Godwin, her former husband, Charles Godwin of Foxworth, Mississippi, her dear friend Jackie Ducote and countless admirers of her courage and advocacy. Arrangements are pending. Rabenhorst Funeral Home is in charge.