Wayne Bloodworth

WALLS– Wayne Bloodworth, 62, died December 28, 2010. He was the brother of Kenneth Bloodworth of Batesville.

Services were held December 31 at Desoto Hills Baptist Church. Burial was in Smith Cemetery in Rosebloom.

He was a salesman for Country Ford. He was born April 10, 1948, in Grenada to the late Deward and Pauline Bloodworth and was a member of DeSoto Hills Baptist Church. He was a graduate of Mississippi State University.

Survivors along with his brother include: his wife of 37 years, Margaret Bloodworth; two sons, Michael Bloodworth of Horn Lake and David Bloodworth of Walls; one sister, Sandra Bloodworth of New York and three grandchildren.

The family requests than any memorials be made to Desoto Hills Baptist Church.

HORN LAKE– Rev. Karsten Merrick Dugger, 45, died Saturday, Junuary 15, 2011, at Methodist South Hospital in Memphis.

Services will be held Saturday at 11 a.m. at Mt. Gillion M.B. Church in Sardis. Rev. Walter Newson will officiate. Burial will be in West Camp Cemetery. Visitation is Friday from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. at Cooley’s Mortuary and Saturday from 10 a.m. – 11 a.m. at Mt. Gillion M.B. Church.

Dugger, born Jan. 8, 1966, in Vremer Heven, Germany, to Calvin Dugger and Musette Jones Dugger, was a musician and associate minister. He was a member of Mt. Zion Baptist Church.

Survivors include: his wife, Priscilla Dugger of Horn Lake and father, Calvin Dugger of Batesville.

BATESVILLE– Van Vernon Jennings Jr., 85, died January 13, 2011, after residing at Golden Living Center since September 2009 and was attended by Southern Care Hospice in Batesville during the last two months.

A private gathering will be held in the spring.

Jennings, born in 1925, to Van Vernon and Virginia Freeman Jennings in Pleasant Grove, was a christened Methodist and attended Pleasant Grove High School graduating in 1942.

He enlisted in the Navy in 1943 and was in the Pacific theatre during WWII. Upon receiving his training and degree from the NT School of Radio at the University of Colorado in Boulder, he was a radioman third class. During his tenure, he was awarded the American Theatre Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Medal and Victory Medal. He was honorably discharged April 1946.

For a brief time, he worked in Memphis as a radio dispatcher, but returned to his hometown upon the death of his father, to take over the operation of the Jennings General Store. In the 1970s he worked for the Chromecraft plant in Senatobia until he retired in 1976.

Memorials may be sent to 4610 Leatherwood Ave., Memphis, Tenn. 38117.

Dorothy Lee Peden

BATESVILLE– Dorothy Lee Peden, 83, died Saturday, January 15, 2011.

Services were Wednesday at Batesville First United Methodist Church. Wells Funeral Home had charge.

Peden, born in Eastbourne, England, on June 26, 1927, to Leonard and Grace Lee, was educated in England. During WWII she went to work for the U.S. Government in London, where she met her future husband, Cooper Peden of Belen. They were married in London in 1945.

In 1946 she joined her husband in Belen and was a resident of Quitman County for the next 60 years. She participated in game days at the Batesville First United Methodist Church.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Cooper and two sons, Michael and Perry.

Survivors include: two daughters, Beverley Neal of Memphis and Mary Fuquay of Oakland and four grandchildren.

The family requests memorials be made to the Smile Train, P.O. Box 96231, Washington, D.C. 20090-6231.

Floyd Stewart

TUPELO–Floyd Stewart, 57, died Thursday, January 13, 2011, at Sanctuary Hospice House. He graduated from South Panola High School.

Services were Monday at Hope Church. Rev. Michael Stewart officiated. Burial was in Lee Memorial Park.

Stewart, born Jan. 31, 1953, in Helena, Ark. to Diamond E. and Alice Stewart, served in the United States Army as an MP stationed in Germany. He worked at The University of Mississippi in House Security for the Kappa Kappa Gamma Sorority and at Cooper Tire for 20 years. He was a member of Hope Church and was a mason. He played the drums, bass guitar, and ran the sound system. He enjoyed building houses for Habitat for Humanity, mowing yards for widows and running the sound system for Sav-A-Life banquets.

Survivors include: his wife, Wanda Kay Kemp Stewart of Tupelo; two daughters, Lauren Elizabeth Stewart and Anna Claire Stewart, both of Tupelo; his mother, Alice Stewart of Saltillo; one sister, Dianna Lyn Choats of Tallahassee, Fla.; three brothers, Rev. Robert Michael Stewart of Glenmora, La., James Edward Stewart of Virgnia Beach and David Alan Stewart of Burnsville and one grandchild.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Hope Church Benevolence Fund.

MEMPHIS– Jimmie Ruth Thomas, 66, formerly of Courtland, died Tuesday, January 18, 2011, at St. Francis Hospital.

Services will be held Saturday at 2:30 p.m. at Shiloh M.B. Church in Courtland. Rev. Zannie Leland will officiate. Visitation will be held from 11 a.m. – 8 p.m. Friday at Cooley’s Mortuary and Saturday from 1:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. at Shiloh M.B. Church.

Thomas, born Aug. 8, 1944, in Courtland, to Homer Lloyd and Sadie Henderson Lloyd, graduated from Batesville Colored High School and received her bachelor’s from Mississippi State University. She was a retired educator for Panola County and Lee County, Ark. She was a member of Christ Missionary Baptist Church in Memphis.

Survivors include: one daughter, Leah Thomas; two sisters, Cathy Tillman and Margaret Lewis and one brother, Rufus Lloyd, all of Memphis.