OXFORD – Joe J. Bennett, 76, died Saturday,  January 12, 2008 at his home near Oxford.

Services will be held today, January 15 at 10 a.m. in the Coleman Funeral Home Chapel in Oxford. Burial will be in the Abbeville Cemetery. Bro. Randy Hope and Bro. John Stewart will officiate.

Bennett, born February 22, 1931 was president and owner of Joe Bennett Construction Company and was a member of the Civitan Club. He was a former member of North Oxford Baptist Church and had served as a deacon at First Baptist Church of Abbeville. He was a member of the Miss. Road Builders and a charter member of Associate Builders and Contractors.

Along with his wife Betty M. Bennett, survivors are sons Michael Wayne Bennett and David Brian Bennett of Oxford and Ronald Glenn Bennett of Independence; daughters Debra Ann Bennett of Southaven, Sandra B. Jackson of Abbeville, and Tracy B. Coleman of Oxford; brothers James E. (Ed) Bennett and Clinton Bennett of Oxford; sister Ruby McLarty of Oxford; 12 grandchildren, and 2 great-grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to LeBonheur Childrens Medical Center, P. O. Box 41187, Memphis TN 38174-1817 or the Make-A-Wish Foundation, 1780 Moriah Woods Blvd., Suite 10, Memphis TN 38117.

Coleman Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

JACKSON – Sgt. Major Vernon David Billingsley, 74, died Thursday, January 10, 2008 at the V. A. Medical Center in Jackson. Billingsley was formerly from Batesville.

Graveside services were held January 14 at Forrest Memorial Park in Batesville.

Billingsley, born April 30, 1933 in Wheeler to Robert and Helen Walker Billingsley, was retired from the U. S. Army. He was a member of Calvary Baptist Church in Jackson.

Survivors along with his wife, Susan K. Billingsley of Jackson, are sister Leedell Billingsley Dowdle of Senatobia and brother Oscar Hiram Billingsley of Batesville.

Wells Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

CHARLESTON – Ella Burke Redwine, 71, died Friday, January 11, 2008 at Tallahatchie General Hospital in Charleston.

Services were held January 14 at Newsom Funeral Home Chapel. Burial was at Bethel Cemetery in Enid.

Redwine was a homemaker who lived in Charleston.

Survivors are her daughter Sherry Doubleday of Charleston; sisters Floy Bell Turner of Batesville, Betty Burkalter, Elizabeth Turman, and Shirley Havens of Enid, and Mary Ann Uselton of Senatobia; 3 grandchildren and 4 great-grandchildren.

Newsom Funeral Home was in charge of arrangements.