BATESVILLE – Clemmie Alice Mason Bay, 78, wife of James Bay, died Monday, February 6, 2012, at Tri-Lakes Medical Center.

Services were held Wednesday, February 8, at Wells Funeral Home with internment at Forrest Memorial Park. Rev. Tim McMillen officiated. Wells Funeral Home was in charge of arrangements.

Bay was born February 15, 1933, in Panola County to the late Howard Mason and Lucille Moore Mason. She was a retired factory worker and a member of the Shady Grove Baptist Church.

 Bay was preceded in death by her parents and a brother, Charles Mason.

     Survivors include her husband, James Bay of Batesville; two daughters, Glenda Bay Deaton of Courtland and Cathy Bay Bailey of Sardis; one son, Mike Bay of Batesville; four sisters, Hattie Mason Groner of Courtland, Jessie Mason Faulkner and Debra Mason Johnson, both of Batesville, and Linda Mason Satchfield of Southaven; three brothers, Dan Mason of Oxford, Richard Mason and Roy Mason, both of Batesville; six grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

SENATOBIA – Betty Mae Orr Gillespie, 58, died Thursday, February 2, 2012, at Baptist Memorial Hospital-Desoto. She was the daughter of Minnie Mae Orr of  Sardis.

Services will be held Tuesday at 11 a.m. at New Independence M.B. Church in Coldwater. Burial will be in Senatobia Memorial. Felix Cauthen Funeral Home has charge.

Survivors along with her mother include: three daughters, Shawana Caldwell and Brenda Burton, both of Senatobia and Stacy Martin of Memphis; two sisters, Fannie L. Honeysucker and Doris J. Orr, both of Sardis; three brothers, Arthur Frost of Grand Rapids, Mich., Nebraska Orr of Como and Billy Orr of Sardis and five grandchildren.

SARDIS – Johnnie L. Perkins, 74, died Friday, February 3, 2012, at his residence.

Services were held Sunday at Wells Funeral Home. Rev. Terry Tribble officiated. Burial was in Cold Springs Cemetery. Wells Funeral Home had charge.

Perkins, born Nov. 25, 1935, to the late Birtee O. and Mary Louise Leeton Perkins, was a member and Deacon of Hebron Baptist Church and President of Hebron Water Association. For the last 10 years he has been a mechanic for Graeber Brothers Gas Company.

Survivors include: three daughters, Regina Perkins Arnold of Chaney, Kan., Kim Perkins Bruce of Sardis, Sherrie Perkins McCollum of Sardis; one son, Justin Birtee Perkins of Sardis, one sister, Mary Lee Perkins Wilson of Sarah; five brothers, David Perkins of Crystal Srpings, Larry Perkins of Sardis, Frank Perkins of Sardis, Paul Perkins of Saltillo, Darrell Perkins of Southaven; 14 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

BATESVILLE – Katherine Burlingame McKenzie, 93, died Monday, February 6, 2012, at the State Veteran’s Home in Oxford.

Services will be held Wednesday at 11 a.m. at the First United Methodist Church. Rev. Pat Ludlam will officiate. Visitation will precede the service, beginning at 9:30 a.m. Graveside services will be held at 3:30 p.m. at Mizpah Cemetery in Durant with L.A. “Hap” Farber Jr. officiating. Wells Funeral Home has charge.

She was the widow of William Henry “Mack” McKenzie Jr. of Durant.
Mrs. McKenzie was born Oct. 11, 1918 in Buffalo, New York, to Frank M. Burlingame and Hazel Witmer Burlingame.

 She graduated from Buffalo State College with a degree in home economics and briefly taught high school before joining the Women’s Army Corps during World War II, where she served from 1942 to 1946, achieving the rank of captain.

Kay and Mack met while in the service. After they married, they made their home in Durant, where Kay enjoyed membership in several clubs and service organizations while participating fully in the activities of her husband and two children.

She was treasurer for many years for the Durant First United Methodist Church, where she also taught Sunday School.

She was also state treasurer for the Mississippi Conference of United Methodist Women, a leader in Explorer’s Bible Study, and served as a member of the Missisippi State Board of Health.

Widowed in 1974, Kay moved to Batesville in 1988 to be near family and entered quickly into activities in the Batesville First United Methodist Church and Explorer’s Bible Study.

She also enjoyed serving as a poll worker in local elections and working as a member of Friends of the Library.

She leaves two children: Barbara Elizabeth “Bonnie” McKenzie of Houston, Texas and William Henry “Bill” McKenzie III and his wife Marni of Batesville; her sister, Marjorie Witmer Burlingame of Buffalo, N.Y; three grandchildren: Melanie Ruth McKenzie Thomas and husband Lent Ervin of Batesville, William Henry McKenzie IV and wife Marilyn of Birmingham; Joanna Katherine McKenzie of Oxford; five great-grandchildren: Jackson Alexander Thomas, Ruth Elizabeth Thomas and Everett Robert Thomas of Batesville and William Henry McKenzie V and Abigail Grace McKenzie of Birmingham.

Memorials may be made to the First United Methodist Church, P.O. Box 97, Batesville, MS 38606 or to Explorer’s Bible Study, P.O. Box 425, Dickson, Tenn. 37056.