Obituaries for Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2002

By Staff
Dozier Olen Skelton
Retired automobile products salesman
Services for Dozier Olen Skelton will be held Tuesday at 11:30 a.m. at James F. Webb Funeral Home Chapel with the Rev. Wendell Stork, of East Side Assembly of God in Moss Point, officiating. Burial will be in Hamrick Cemetery.
Mr. Skelton, 87, of Oceanside, Calif., died Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2002, in his home. He was member of Church of the Nazarene.
Survivors include his daughters, Shirley Gail Swenson of Meridian and Elaine Collander and her husband, Paul, of San Diego; three grandchildren, Brian Collander, Victoria Lauer and Bonnie Dunkin; and five great-grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Shirley Whitaker Skelton.
Pallbearers will be Perry Cox, Chris Cox, Jeff Cox, David Valentine, Daryll Dunkin and Ken Dunkin.
Visitation will be today 10 a.m.-11:30 a.m. at the funeral home.
George Nelson
Retired
Services for George Nelson will be held today at 2 p.m. at Mt. Olive Baptist Church in Lauderdale with the Rev. Obadiah Clemmons officiating. Burial will be in the church cemetery with Clark's Memorial Funeral Home in charge of arrangements.
Mr. Nelson, 78, of Meridian, died Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2002, at Benchmark Healthcare Center.
Survivors include his wife, Mamie T. Nelson of Porterville; his children, Les Nelson and his wife, Marlene, of Jacksonville, Fla., Willie James Nelson and his wife, Edna Earl, Willie Junior Nelson and his wife, Jeanette, all of Marion, Tommy Nelson of Porterville, Mary Hudson and her husband, Al, of Marion, Bobbie Campbell and her husband, Tyrone, of Porterville, Sharon Nelson and Tanika Grace and her husband, Willie, all of DeKalb; three sisters, Magerie Clayton and Octavia McDonald, both of Kemper Springs, and Henry A. McNeese of Meridian; 15 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Tommy Nelson and Lena Moore.
Ruby Ann Hoda
Homemaker
Graveside services for Ruby Ann Hoda will be held today at 3 p.m. at Goodwater Cemetery with the Rev. Hal Ethridge officiating. James F. Webb Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
Mrs. Hoda, 56, of Enterprise, died Monday, Dec. 16, 2002, at The Specialty Hospital of Meridian. She was a member of Our Lady of the Gulf Catholic Church in Bay St. Louis.
Survivors include her daughters, Melissa Bennett of Waycross, Ga., and Tracy Boardman of Meridian; a son, Brian Roberts of North Carolina; brothers, Earl Oliver, Charles Oliver and Louis Oliver; grandchildren, Jonathon Roberts, Brittany Bennett, Jami Boardman and Tiffany Roberts.
Sarah Jeanelle Holland
Homemaker
QUITMAN Graveside services for Sarah Jeanelle Holland will be held Wednesday at 10 a.m. at Old Lusk Cemetery in Choctaw County, Ala. Wright's Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
Mrs. Holland, 55, of Quitman, died Monday, Dec. 16, 2002, at Lakeside Living Center in Quitman.
Survivors include her husband, William Holland of Ellisville; a son, William Edward Holland II of Ellisville; daughters, Edna Marie Harrison of Waynesboro and Mary Ellen Copeland of Needham, Ala.; a brother, Ray Jimmerson of Toxey, Ala.; a sister, Jeanette Jacobs of Gilbertown, Ala.; and five grandchildren.
Dr. Lucy Lott
JACKSON Memorial services for Dr. Lucy Lott will be held Wednesday at 4 p.m. at the University Medical Center, Norman C. Nelson Student Union Building. Mark Seepe Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
Dr. Lott, 56, of Jackson, died Saturday, Dec. 14, 2002, at the University Medical Center. She was a native of Meridian and graduated for Meridian High School and Meridian Junior College.
She received her bachelor's and master's degrees in accounting from the University of Southern Mississippi. She served as USM contracts and grants officer from 1977-79 and became a certified public accountant in 1980. She received her doctorate in education in 1989 from the University of Mississippi.
Dr. Lott was a frequent site visitor for the Southern Association of College and Schools and made many presentations to university administrative officers, alumni and student groups on budgets and accounting principles.
She was a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, she was chair of the State Higher Education Finance Officers from 1991-92 and treasurer of the Mississippi Association for Women in Higher Education from 1982-83.
Dr. Lott came to UMC in 1994 from the board of trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning. She worked as a financial analyst for IHL from 1979-91; became director of financial analysis in 1981; and assistant commissioner of finance and planning in 1987. As assistant commissioner, she monitored the financial data from the universities in the state system.
Her colleague at UMC, Dr. Joanne Olson, director of institutional research, called her "a true leader who brought to the department years of experience of the upper levels of higher education."
Olson also said, "she had a way of getting to the heart of any issue and could sort the irrelevant from the crucial very easily."
Survivors include her daughter, Karyn Wise of Clinton; a son, Jason Irby of Jackson; grandchildren, Christian and Emma Wise and Kaitlyn Irby; two brothers, Richard Lott and Calvin Lott, both of Meridian.
Memorials may be made to UMC Cancer Research Fund, c/o Division of Public Affairs, University Medical Center, 2500 North State Street, Jackson, MS 39216-4505.
Patsy Spencer
Arrangements were incomplete at E.E. McDonald Funeral Home for Patsy Spencer, 90, of Scooba, who died Sunday, Dec. 15, 2002, at St. Mary Hospital in East St. Louis, Ill.
Ludie Nelson
Arrangements were incomplete at E.E. McDonald Funeral Home for Ludie Nelson of Chicago, who died Thursday, Dec. 12, 2002.