Robert Allen Avant Sr.

CRENSHAW– Panola County Supervisor, Robert Allen Avant Sr., 58, died Friday, August 8, 2008, at Baptist Memorial Hospital-North Mississippi.

Services are Wednesday at 11 a.m. at the Batesville Civic Center. Visitation is today at 5 p.m. at McIvor Creek M.B. Church. Burial will be in McIvor Creek M.B. Church cemetery. Delta Burial has charge.

Avant, served District Two on the board of county supervisors where he was also president. He was a member of McIvor Creek M.B. Church.

Survivors include: his wife, Vernice Black Avant of Crenshaw and three sons, Robert Allen Avant Jr., Issac Lanier and Albert Hosea Avant, all of Crenshaw.

Glenn A. Cook

BATESVILLE– Glenn A. Cook, 70, died Monday, August 11, 2008, at Baptist Memorial Hospital-North Mississippi.

Private family services are Thursday at 11 a.m. at Wells Funeral Home. Visitation with friends will be Thursday 9:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. at the funeral home.  Rev. Chester Masterson Jr. and Rev. Murray Looper will officiate. Burial will be in Forrest Memorial Park Cemetery. Wells Funeral Home has charge.

Cook, born Aug. 9, 1938, to the late James Walter and Etha Taylor Cook in Cincinnati, Ohio, was a prosthetist for Hanger Orthopedic of Paduka, Ky. and a member of Trinity Baptist Church on Calvary Street in Batesville.

Survivors include: his wife, Patricia G. Masterson Cook of Batesville; two daughters, Cyndee Cook Fequa of Nashville and Tammela Cook of Tennessee; one sister, Jeanette Cooke Conatser of Chattanooga, Tenn.; one brother, Leroy Cook of Nashville; three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Famous Cornelious Goodrum Ferrell

COURTLAND–Famous Cornelious Goodrum Ferrell, 81, died Tuesday, August 5, 2008, at her residence.

Services were Monday at Spring Hill Asa M.B. Church. Rev. Larry Key officiated. Burial was in the church cemetery. Cooley’s Mortuary had charge.

Ferrell, born May 12, 1927, to the late Odie Goodrum and the late Ethel Johnson, was a member of Springhill Asa M.B. Church. She attended Tallahatchie County Public Schools and was a homemaker.

Survivors include: two daughters, Joyce Brown of Memphis and Mary Las Fason of Chicago; seven sons, Terry Ferrell of Sardis, Charles Ferrell, Rickey Ferrell and Perry Ferrell, all of Batesville, Willie Jean Ferrell of North Carolina, James Ferrell of Sardis and Tony Ferrell of Cleveland, Ohio; three brothers, William Goodrum, James O. Goodrum and Marcell Goodrum, all of Oakland, Calif.; one sister, Alma Terry of Milwaukee; 31 grandchildren; 47 great-grandchildren and five great-great-grandchildren.

Ruby Dix Henderson

BATESVILLE– Ruby Dix Henderson, 87, died Thursday, August 7, 2008, at Tri-Lakes Medical Center.

Services were Monday at Wells Funeral Home. Rev. Karen O’Brien and Rev. David Snellgrove officiated. Burial was in Greenleaf Cemetery in Coldwater. Wells Funeral Home had charge.

Henderson, born Jan. 23, 1921, to the late Thomas N. and Myrtle Greer Dix in Tate County, was a member of the Batesville Presbyterian Church. She was a homemaker and a former member of the Eastern Star Lodge No. 60.

She was preceded in death by one brother, Jewel Dix who died in Okinawa, Japan while he was serving in the U.S. Army in May 1945.

Survivors include: her husband of 61 years, William Douglas Henderson of Batesville; one daughter, Carol Lee Henderson of Batesville; one son, William Donald Henderson of Hernando; three grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Freddie Gertrude Hentz Johnson

COURTLAND–Freddie Gertrude Hentz Johnson, 79, died Thursday, August 7, 2008, at her residence.

Services were Sunday at Dickins Funeral Home.  Rev. T. Hill and Rev. Clay Baker officiated. Burial was in Eureka Private Cemetery. Dickins Funeral Home had charge.

Johnson, born June 1929, to the late Fred Gaston Hentz and Mildred Gertrude Fowler Hentz, was a member of the Eureka Methodist Church, Sunshine Homemaker Club and sang in the church choir. She was a Sunday school teacher and a homemaker.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Odis Lamar Johnson; three brothers, Carson Helms, Billy G. Hentz and John Helms; one granddaughter, Amy Johnson Todd Robison and one great-grandson, Christopher Todd.

Survivors include: three daughters, Clara Louise Johnson Meek of Courtland, Betty Sue Johnson Seay of Batesville and Kay Johnson Haire of Batesville; three sons, James Calvin Johnson of Crenshaw, John David Johnson and Lamar Johnson, both of Courtland; two brothers, Milton E. Hentz and Bobby E. Hentz, both of Courtland; 14 grandchildren and numerous great-grandchildren.

Memorials may be sent to Eureka Private Cemetery c/o Charlie Baker, 3129-A Bell Rd., Courtland, 38620 or to Eureka Methodist Church.

Linda Faye Pittman Lee

SARDIS– Linda Faye Pittman Lee, 68, died Sunday, August 10, 2008, at her residence.

Services are Wednesday at 3 p.m. at Wells Funeral Home. Rev. Kenneth Dyson will officiate. Visitation is today 5 p.m. – 8 p.m. at Wells Funeral Home. Burial will be in Forrest Memorial Park Cemetery. Wells Funeral Home has charge.

Lee, born Jan. 31, 1940, to the late Alma Loyd and Louise Patton Pittman in Panola County, was a homemaker.

Survivors include: three sons, Richard Lee of Sardis, Christopher Lee of Courtland and Brandon Lee of Charleston; six sisters, Ruby Mae Pittman Scruggs of Batesville, Sarah Louise Pittman Darby of Enid, Lula Pittman Morrisey of Covington, Ky., Virginia Pittman Waldo of Cordova, Bonnie Pittman Brotherton of Hunningdon, Tenn. and Ina “Tootie” Pittman Erving of Senatobia; four brothers, Carl “Buddy” Pittman, Mack Pittman, Terry Pittman and David Pittman, all of Batesville; 10 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Mary Petty

SARDIS– Mary Petty, 76, died Monday, August 4, 2008, at her residence.

Services were Sunday at the PGA Building in Sardis. Rev. Larry Key officiated. Burial was in Rose Hill Cemetery. Kenneth I. Roberson Funeral Home of Sardis had charge.

Petty, born to the late Jessie Thomas and the late Pearl Kuykendall, was a retired domestic worker.

Survivors include: four daughters, Shirley Herring of Courtland, Mary Madlock of Sardis and Norma Petty and Annie Madlock, both of Oxford; four sons, Jessie Petty of Batesville, Terrell Petty of Oakland, Eddie Hughes and Walter Petty, both of Sardis; one sister, Odell Thomas of Sardis; two brothers, Eddie Thomas of Cleveland, Ohio and Mose Johnson of Memphis; 17 grandchildren and 26 great-grandchildren.

Sudie Gilmore Crocker Ridgeway

COFFEEVILLE–Sudie Gilmore Crocker Ridgeway, 85, died Monday, July 28, 2008, at her residence.

Services were Thursday, July 31 at New Life Fellowship Hall in Oakland. Jerry Smith and Billy Nelson officiated. Burial was in Salem Cemetery in Water Valley. Seven Oaks Funeral Home had charge.

Ridgeway, born Jan. 16, 1923, to the late Lon and Hester Lee Nelson Gilmore, was a homemaker and a member of New Life Fellowship in Oakland.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Curtis “Curt” Crocker and one granddaughter, Susan Camp Smith.

Survivors include: two daughters, Patsy Sanders of Enid and Nell Camp of Coffeeville; one son, Sinclair Neal Crocker of Coffeeville; one sister, Frances Ables of Byhalia; seven grandchildren; 11 great-grandchildren and one great-great grandchild.