By Billy Davis

Funeral services were incomplete Monday for a Panola County woman who perished in a house fire.

Grace Darby, 42, died Friday night in a one-story home on King Road, located northwest of Sardis Lake.

Her body was recovered in the back of the home near an entryway, said Panola County coroner Gracie Grant-Gulledge.

The fire broke out about 11 p.m. with a dispatcher reporting that a woman was inside the home, said Daniel Cole, director of Panola County Emergency Management.

Firefighters with Sardis Lower Lake arrived first on the scene, he said.

Firefighters from Union and Cole’s Point fire departments also fought the blaze.

Gulledge said an autopsy was performed Sunday. The results were pending Monday at presstime.

Cole said Darby’s death is Panola County’s second fire-related death in 2009.

Panola fire investigator Gerald White said the house fire remains under investigation.