Obituaries 1/4/13
Published 12:00 am Friday, January 4, 2013
MEMPHIS — Lonnie Brooks, 88, formerly of Batesville, died Monday, December 31, 2012, at Graceland Nursing Center in Memphis.
Services will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at Cooley’s Mortuary Chapel. Michael Robinson will officiate. Burial will be in Macedonia Cemetery. Visitation will be held today from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. at Cooley’s Mortuary.
Brooks, born June 4, 1924, to the late Ernest Brooks and Gracie Benson, was a retired factory worker and a member of God’s Ministry Christian Church. He was a veteran of the U.S. Army.
Survivors include: three sisters, Edith Cole of Batesville, Raheema Abbullah and Mary Parsman, both of Memphis; two brothers, Eddie Vaugh of Austin, Texas and Vance Brooks of Brooklyn, N.Y. and the daughter he raised, Stacy Stamps of Memphis.
BATESVILLE — Leora Callicutt, 69, died Saturday, December 29, 2012.
Services will be held Saturday at Mt. Level M.B. Church at noon. Burial will be in the church cemetery.
Visitation will be held Friday from 4 p.m. – 6 p.m. at Henderson Funeral Home. Henderson Funeral Home has charge.
Survivors include: five sons, Jerry Callicutt, Terry Callicutt, Herman Callicutt, all of Sardis, Larry Callicutt and Robert Callicutt, both of Como; one sister, Sarah Henderson of Como.
BATESVILLE — Laura Virginia Medlin Collier, 92, died Sunday, December 30, 2012, at Golden Living Center.
Services were held Tuesday at Springdale Baptist Church in Ripley. Randy Hamilton, Stacy McKee and Bill Baker officiated. Burial was in Fellowship Cemetery. McBride Funeral Home had charge.
Collier, born Nov. 15, 1920, to Thomas Eugene and Ethel Hansford Medlin in Tippah County, owned and operated Collier’s Sportswear in Ripley. She was a member of Springdale Baptist Church.
Survivors include: one daughter, Ann Collier Stevenson of Oxford; three grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.
Memorials may be made to Springdale Baptist Church, 581 East Walnut St., Ripley, Miss. 38663.
SARDIS— Jimmy Lee Dean, 59, died Friday, December 21, 2012, at Sardis Nursing Home.
Services were held Saturday at the P.G.A. Building in Sardis. Burial was in Pleasant Green Cemetery. Henderson Funeral Home had charge.
Survivors include: his mother, Betty Thomas of Sardis; six sisters, Carda Jackson and Carolyn Boothe, both of Sardis, Cinthia Harris of Fort Worth, Texas, Ira Gassion of Sardis, Betty Thomas of Batesville and Lakeisha Williams of Sardis; four brothers, Nathaniel Thomas and Eddie Thomas, both of Sardis, Danny Thomas of Batesville and William Thomas of Fort Worth, Texas.
BATESVILLE —Olive Clyde Herring Fitch Smith, 90, died Friday, December 28, 2012, at her residence.
Services were held Tuesday at St. Mary’s Catholic Church. Father Sam Messina officiated. Burial was in Memorial Park Cemetery in Memphis.
Smith, born Feb. 17, 1922, to Olive Clyde Bell and Samuel Irving Herring Jr. in Courtland, attended Batesville High School. She continued her education at Mississippi State College for Women where she received her bachelor of science degree and was a member of Gamma Sigma Epsilon.
She worked as a medical technologist at the Greenville Air Force Base and later at the Stone Medical Clinic. Later, she worked for the Research Dept. of the University of Tennessee at the VA Hospital in Memphis, where she received special recognition for her research on Multiple Sclerosis.
She was selected to represent Batesville on a goodwill tour promoting Sardis Dam in 1940 and was named the “Woman of the Year” by the Memphis Chapter of the American Business Women’s Association.
She and her late husband, H.B. Fitch, were founding members of St. Mary’s Catholic Community Church in Batesville where she was still an active member. Mrs. Smith was a member of the VFW Auxiliary and had volunteered at the Charles Wilson VA Hospital in Lufkin, Texas. During the 80’s and 90’s she had participated in competive ball room dancing.
She was preceded in death by her two previous husbands, H.B. Fitch and Jimmie G. Smith and her son, John Michael Fitch and her sister, Joan Herring Dorr.
Survivors include: her daughter, Laurie Monteith of Batesville, and a son, Jim Smith of Dalton, Va.; nine grandchildren and six great grandchildren.
The family asks that memorials be sent to St. Mary’s Catholic Church, P.O. Box 569, Batesville, Miss. 38606.
SARDIS —Aubry Lee Lewallen, 80, died Thursday, December 27, 2012, at Tallahatchie General Hospital in Charleston.
Services were held Sunday, December 30 at Ray Nowell Funeral Home. Burial was in Hebron Cemetery. Ray Nowell Funeral Home had charge.
Lewallen was a retired riverboat engineer. He was preceded in death by his wife, Rosa Gene Lewallen.
Survivors include: three sons, Mike Lewallen of San Antonio, Robert Lewallen of Keller, Texas and William Lewallen of Crenshaw; one daughter, Connie Long of Sardis; four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
Memorial contributions may be made to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
BATESVILLE — Jenny Mae Norwood Lewis, 61, died Tuesday, December 25, 2012, at her residence.
Services will be held Saturday at noon at McIvor Baptist Church in Sardis. Burial will be in the church cemetery. Visitation will be held Friday from 1 p.m. – 6 p.m. at Eddie Robinson Funeral Home in Batesville and Saturday from 11 a.m. until service time at the church. Eddie Robinson Funeral Home has charge.
Lewis, born March 30, 1951, was a member of McIvor Baptist Church.
Survivors include: her husband, Bobby Lewis; two daughters, Yolanda Ivy of Milwaukee, Nicole Woodard of Batesville; three sons, Jerry Jenkins of Pheonix, Rodney Norwood and Rico Norwood, both of Batesville; two stepdaughters, Latrice Lewis of Batesville and D’Anquilyn Harris of Jackson.
COURTLAND –– Mary F. Sanford, 61, died Friday, December 28, 2012, at Baptist Memorial Hospital-North Mississippi.
Services will be held Saturday at 2 p.m. at Cooley’s Mortuary. Larry Itson will officiate. Visitation will be held today from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. at Cooley’s Mortuary. Cooley’s Mortuary has charge.
Sanford, born Feb. 27, 1951, in Memphis, to Theria Taylor of Courtland and the late Calvin Lightfoot, was a homemaker and a member of Salem M.B. Church in Courtland.
Survivors along with her mother include: her husband, Louis Sanford of Courtland; one daughter, Maria L. Fairbee of Courtland; one son, John L. Fairbee Jr. of Batesville; seven sisters, Teresa Taylor and Brenda Street, both of Courtland, Mary Street, Linda Street, Regina Street, Patricia Street and Gloria Street, all of Memphis; five brothers, Willie Taylor of Courtland, Donald Taylor of Sardis and Larry Taylor of Oxford, Fredrick Street of Memphis and Andrew Charles Evans of Ruleville; nine grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
COLDWATER— Ruthie L. Shaw, 50, died Thursday, December 27, 2012. She was the daughter of Reby Echols of Como.
Services will be held Saturday at 1 p.m. at Mt. Calm Missionary Baptist Church in Coldwater. Burial will be in the church cemetery. Visitation will be today from 2-5 p.m. at Rodgers Funeral Home, and Saturday from noon until service time.
She was a member of Mt. Calm Missionary Baptist Church.
Survivors include: two daughters, Carla Echols Street of Coldwater and Kayrounda Echols of Southaven; two sisters, Clara Echols and Tina Ware, both of Senatobia, and three brothers, Aaron Echols, Charles Echols, both of Memphis and Walter Wayne Echols of Como.
BATESVILLE — Elizabeth M. “Betty” Still, age 69, passed away Tuesday afternoon, January 1, 2013 at her home in Batesville.
Graveside services were held Thursday, January 3, in Magnolia Cemetery with Rev. Allen Mullan and Rev. Chris Cooksey officiating. Wells Funeral Home had charge.
Mrs. Still was born in Batesville on February 4, 1943 to Gladys Faye Reed and James Clyde Mann.
She was a retiree of South Panola School District after 40 years of service where she was a special education teacher and a psychometrist.
Mrs. Still was a member of Eureka United Methodist Church.
She leaves her husband of 46 years, Jimmy Lee Still of Batesville.
The family asks that memorials be sent to Eureka Methodist Church, 101 Cosby Rd, Courtland, Miss. 38620.
BATESVILLE –– Eddie Mae Glover Turner, 87, died Sunday, December 30, 2012, at her residence.
Services will be held Sunday at noon at Armstrong Street Church of God in Christ in Batesville. Terry Townsend will officiate. Burial will be in the church cemetery. Visitation will be held Saturday 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. at Cooley’s Mortuary and Sunday from 11 a.m. until service time at the church. Cooley’s Mortuary has charge.
Turner, born April 25, 1925, in Memphis, to Eddie B. Glover and Lillian Varre, was a homemaker and a member of Armstrong Street Church of God.
Survivors include: one daughter, Freddie Mae Bibbs of Batesville; one son, Billy Ray Allen of Bruce; her grandson who cared for her, Tony Allen; 12 grandchildren and 27 great-grandchildren.
BATESVILLE –– James Woodard, 105, died Wednesday, January 2, 2013, at his residence.
Services will be held Sunday at 2 p.m. at New Providence M.B. Church in Water Valley. Rev. Tom Goodwin will officiate. Burial will be in New Providence Church Cemetery. Eddie Robinson Funeral Home has charge.
Woodard, born Dec. 1, 1907, in Yalobusha County, to the late Dennis Woodard and Judy Hoskins Woodard, attended Bynum Rosenwall School. He was a farmer and a member of New Providence M.B. Church where he served as a deacon, usher and Sunday School treasurer.
He was preceded in death by his daughters, Fannie Moore and Alma Hawkins.
Survivors include: his brother, Jesse Woodard; nine grandchildren; 21 great-grandchildren and 15 great-great-grandchildren.
SARDIS –– Stacy McKee Woodruff, 58, died Wednesday, January 2, 2013, at Sardis Community Nursing Home.
Services will be held today at 11 a.m. at Good Hope Baptist Church, Batesville, with Rev. Tim Morgan and Rev. Charles Stubblefield officiating. Burial will follow in the church cemetery. Visitation will be from 10 a.m. until service time.
Woodruff, born in Oxford on August 12, 1954 to the late Verna McKee and the late Bryant Wilson Woodruff, was a retired farmer and a member of Good Hope Baptist Church.
He is survived by his sister, June Woodruff McCulley of Batesville.
Anyone wishing to send memorials can send those to Good Hope Cemetery Trust, C/O Mark Doner, 1516 Goodhope Rd., Batesville, MS 38606.