BATESVILLE – Elsie Laverne Darby, 85, widow of the late B.H. Darby Sr., died Monday, February 20, 2012, at Tri-Lakes Medical Center.

Services were held Thursday at the Central Academy Church of Christ. Mr. Steve Hentz and Hal Johnson officiated. Burial was in Forrest Memorial Park. Dickins Funeral Home had charge.

Mrs. Darby was born October 26, 1926, in Panola County, to the late Archie Lance Martin and Gladys Young Martin.  She was a retired factory worker for Carters and a member of Central Academy Church of Christ.

She was preceded in death by one son, B.H. Darby, Jr.

Survivors include two sons, Troy Darby (Elaine) of Sardis and David M. Darby (Teresa) of Columbus; her daughter-in-law, Janet Darby of Como; two sisters, Betty Matthews of Batesville and Carol Maughn of Grenada; five grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

The family requests memorials may be sent to the Central Academy Church of Christ, 2243 Fudgetown Rd., Sardis, MS 38666 or to American Cancer Society.

 POPE – Naddie Lloyd Morgan, 92, died Tuesday, February 21, 2012, at Baptist Memorial Hospital-North Mississippi.

Services will be held Saturday at 2 p.m. at Pleasant Green M.B. Church in Water Valley. Rev. Willie Forrest will officiate. Visitation will be held Friday from 10 a.m. – 7 p.m. at Cooley’s Mortuary and Saturday from 1 p.m. – 2 p.m. at Pleasant Green M.B. Church in Water Valley.

Morgan, born Dec. 22, 1919, in Pope, to the late Rev. Elvie L. Lloyd and Mattie Neves, was a homemaker. She was a member of Springhill M.B. Church in Pope.

Survivors include: two daughters, Mable Hippolyte of Pope and Kathleen Adams of Decatur; five sons, Rev. Rubert V.  Morgan of Pope, Elzie Morgan of Taylor, Rev. Johnnie Morgan of Baton Rouge, La., Russell Morgan of Dover, Del. and Luther E. Morgan of Milwaukee; two sisters, Mattie Lloyd of Milwaukee, Essie Demoice of St. Louis; two brothers, Acye Lloyd of St. Louis and Larry Charles “L.C.” Morgan of Milwaukee; 22 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren.

CHICAGO, Ill. – Louise Blake Lewis, 75, died Wednesday, February 1, 2012, in Dyer, Ind.

Services were held February 8, at Leak and Sons Funeral Home in Country Club Hills, Ill. with internment in  Washington Memory Gardens Cemetery.

Lewis was born on February 8, 1937, in Sardis, to Hartie Blake and the late Mary Francis Hill Blake Salter.

She joined Simon Chapel Church in Sardis at an early age.     

She graduated from Davidson High School in Water Valley, and Crane Junior College and  Edgewater Respiratory School in Chicago.

She pursued her professional career in respiratory therapy at Saint Mary’s of Nazareth Hospital in Chicago where she advanced to director of respiratory therapy.

Lewis worked at St. Mary’s for 37 years.  

Survivors include her father, Hartie Blake, 103; two daughters, Phyllis Lewis and Gwendolyn Lewis McNeal; one grandson, Dino McNeal; granddaughter Victoria Moore Leon Alien and her sisters and brothers, Varner Johnson, Emmer Caldwell, Creasie White, Bernice Freeman, Gladys Muhammad Ward, Bessie Dickson, Dorine Blake-Smith, Sharon Macon, Jessie Whitaker, Forestine Jackson, Bemis Blake, Hartie Blake, David Blake, Fred Blake, Walter Blake, Robert Blake Roberts, John Salter, of Olive Branch, Jessie Salter and Willie Salter, all of Sardis.

RED BAY, Ala. — Rhonda Ann Simmons, 43, formerly of Sledge, died Tuesday, February 23, 2012, at Baptist Memorial Hospital-Desoto.

Services will be held Saturday at noon at Ray-Nowell Funeral Home in Senatobia. Burial will be in Longtown Cemetery in Crenshaw.

Survivors include: one son, Zade Charleston Simmons of Red Bay, Ala.; one sister, Kimberly Simmons Noe of Tupelo.