Earlie Mae Cummings Carothers
BATESVILLE – Earlie Mae Cummings Carothers was born January 21, 1927 in Taylor, Mississippi. Earlie Mae Cummings Carothers lived a life full of loving and giving before departing this world on May 9th, 2016 at the age of 89. 

She graduated from Taylor High School in the Class of ‘46, and married Oliver Smylie Carothers the following year.  His career took them to Albany, NY; Coudersport, PA; Transylvania, LA; and Lake Providence, LA, where she ran her own catering business.  They retired to Baskin, LA, and, ten years ago, settled in Batesville, LA, where she was a member of the First United Methodist Church.

Always active, industrious, and meticulous, Earlie Carothers loved to cook, play bridge, nurture her beautiful gardens, and take care of friends and family. 

As a cook, she was ahead of her time, insisting on using fresh ingredients and making everything from scratch.  Although she amassed decades’ worth of Southern Living issues and could never resist buying a charity cookbook, she was always able to improve on a recipe, being creative, adding spices, and making it her own.  There was never a store-bought cookie in her house, and even her ice cream sandwiches were slices of hand-cut ice cream between graham crackers.  Instead of slicing watermelon for her family, she kept a bowl of perfect melon balls in the refrigerator for them to help themselves.  Her natural flair for presentation was a boon to her catering career: with no professional experience, she built her business from sheer talent, common sense, and hard work, becoming the most sought-after caterer of society weddings in Lake Providence, as well as events for local officials and visiting dignitaries. 

A caring and thoughtful soul, Mrs. Carothers would always extend herself for others, and was well loved in return.  When her girls were little, she’d serve dinner in courses to parties of their friends, all dressed up in their mothers’ formals, so they’d learn to be at home among the china and silver and crystal.  Her granddaughter acknowledges that if her posture is any good today, it’s because her grandmother worked so hard at it; even if she never did get tied to the back of the chair, the lesson was learned.  All the neighborhood children knew when they played football in Mrs. Carothers’ yard – barefoot – there’d be no stickers, because she took care to dig them all up; when her grandchildren were small, she would pay them to collect the pine cones that had fallen in the yard.  Though she would routinely stay up ‘til midnight getting the ironing done, she never let the young ones do the hard work.  “You have your entire life to do these things, Baby,” she’d say, “You just be little.”     

She was still making fast friends late in life, having moved at age 79 to Batesville, where she and her husband were warmly welcomed to bridge clubs and other social circles; yet she kept up with life in Lake Providence as a faithful reader of the Banner-Democrat.  According to her florist, she would send friends flowers “just because.”

She is preceded in death by her parents, William Earl and Carrie Mae Cooper Cummings, and her brother, James Harry Cummings, and is survived by her husband of nearly 69 years; her sister, Ruth Cummings Spagnola; two daughters, Cindy Carothers Roberts (Clay) and Fonda Carothers Nickle (Brent); grandchildren Oliver Cory Bahr (Samantha), Kristy Laine McDaniel, Cooper Layne Roberts, and Cason Reed Roberts; and countless friends.

Terry Lynn Heskett Sr.
Terry Lynn Heskett Sr., 69, died May 11, 2016, at Methodist University Hospital in Memphis.

Services will be held Friday, May 20 at 7 p.m. at Wells Funeral Home. Visitation will be held 5 p.m. until service time. Dr. Dennis Heskett and Dr. Michael Heskett will officiate. Wells Funeral Home has charge.

Heskett, born Jan. 31, 1947, to the late Acie D. Heskett and Mable Pearl Hudgins Heskett of Union City, Tenn., was a truck driver and the former owner of The Catfish Hut at Enid Dam. He was a member of Goodhope Baptist Church.

Guary Lee Hunt
Guary Lee Hunt, 58, died Sunday, May 15, 2016, at Baptist Memorial Hospital-North Mississippi.

Honoring the wishes of Guary, there will be no services. Burial will be held in Forrest Memorial Park.

Wells Funeral Home has charge.
 
Hunt, born Nov. 28, 1957, in Tuscaloosa, Ala., to the late Ben Frank and Elizabeth Ann Harmon Hunt, was a machinist by trade.

Daisy F. Smith
Water Valley – Daisy F. Smith, 75, died Monday, May 9, 2016, at Baptist Memorial Hospital.
Services were held Saturday at Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church in Enid. Marty Evans officiated. Burial was in Mt. Pisgah Cemetery. Eddie Robinson Funeral Home had charge.

Smith, born April 5, 1941, in Como, to Raymond Young and Flossie Taylor Young, was a retired factory worker and a member of Como Baptist Church.

James Edward “Doc” Tramel Jr.
BATESVILLE––James Edward “Doc” Tramel Jr., 90, died Saturday, May 14, 2016, at his residence.

Services were held Monday at Wells Funeral Home. Dr. Robert Self and Tim McMillen officiated. Wells Funeral Home had charge.

Doc was born November 14, 1925 in Lafayette County, to the late James Edward Tramel Sr. and Julia Ann Ray Tramel. He honorably served his country in the U.S. Navy during WWII.
Doc first retired from the Brookhaven, Mississippi City Schools after thirty years of service were he was School District Superintendent from 1967 to 1982.

Doc and his wife, Lorraine, would move to Batesville, where he would serve in the same capacity with the South Panola School District in 1982 and 1983. He was a member of Shady Grove Baptist Church.