Obituaries for Thursday, Oct. 2, 2003

By Staff
Student
DEKALB Services for James W. Boyd Jr. will be held Saturday at 11 a.m. at Union Kemper Springs Baptist Church with the Rev. Robert Coats officiating. Burial will be in the church cemetery. E.E. McDonald Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
Mr. Boyd, 13, of DeKalb, died Thursday, Sept. 25, 2003, in his home.
Survivors include his parents, James W. Boyd Sr. and Mary E. Boyd and a sister, Tina L. Brown, all of DeKalb; a brother, Jicavo S. Brown and his wife, Patricia, of Newton; a great-grandmother, Madgie Ree Clayton of DeKalb; several aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends.
He was preceded in death by his grandparents.
Visitation will be Saturday one hour prior to the service at the church.
Retired from American Can Company
Services for Willie J. Jimison will be held Saturday at 2 p.m. at St. Luke Primitive Baptist Church in Porterville with the Rev. Willie Sealy officiating. Burial will be held in the church cemetery. Berry and Gardner Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
Mr. Jimison, 64, of Porterville, died Saturday, Sept. 27, 2003, at Jeff Anderson Regional Medical Center.
Survivors include his wife, Gladys Jimison of Porterville; daughters, Chrysanthia Davis of Houston, Texas, Darinda Jimison of Gulfport and Marilyn Moore of Porterville; sons, Christopher Jimison of Michigan City, Ind., and Rosie Gowdy of Porterville; sisters, Mollie Benoman of Porterville, Bessie McConnell of Lauderdale and Hazel Dean of Michigan City; brothers, Martin Jimison and Johnny Jimison, both of Lauderdale; his step-mother, Mamie Jimison of Lauderdale; and 13 grandchildren.
Visitation will be Friday 7 p.m.-8 p.m. at the funeral home.
Retired
SPRINGFIELD, Va. Services for Samuel M. Thomasson Jr. will be held Oct. 9 at Post Chapel (Old Chapel) in Arlington National Cemetery. Burial will be in Arlington National Cemetery. A reception will be held at Ft. Myer Officer's Club following the service. Demaine Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
Ret. Brigadier Gen. Thomasson, 82, of Springfield, died Friday, Sept. 19, 2003, in his home. He was the son of Samuel M. Thomasson Sr. and Cora Lee Hudson Thomasson. He grew up in rural northeastern Mississippi and graduated from the University of Virginia Law School. He served as a member of the U.S. Air Force JAG Corps in the Far East and Europe. He enjoyed a second career of nearly two decades as deputy counsel to the Potomac Electric Power Company.
Mr. Thomasson was born on May 22, 1921, in Nakeeta, a railroad watering station where his father ran a lumber mill. The family later moved to DeKalb, where he graduated as valedictorian of his high school class. In 1938, he entered the University of Mississippi, where he studied business administration and law for four years while serving as a member of the Army Reserve Officer's Training Corps.
In 1942, he was commissioned and entered active military service with the Army Air Corps. After the war he completed his law degree at the University of Virginia making the Dean's List and receiving his Juris Doctorate degree in 1947. He reentered military service joining the U.S. Air Force in June 1948 as a military attorney.
As a young legal officer in the newly established Air Force, he rode the military court circuit after World War II and during the Korean Conflict, acting as the law officer (trial judge) on court martial cases tried throughout Japan and Korea.
While stationed in Europe, he negotiated with many foreign governments and helped establish the procurement procedures for NATO. As a brigadier general, Thomasson supervised more than 100 attorneys and served as chief legal officer for headquarters Air Force Systems Command, providing legal counsel to top managers of the Air Force.
He served on the Commander's Management Council. During his tenure, the agency ran a $46 billion per year aircraft and material procurement program, working directly with Boeing, Lockheed Martin and a wide range of defense and weaponry contractors. He was part of the organization responsible for research, development, testing, and producing advanced Air Force bombers and fighters.
Thomasson served as Deputy General Counsel of Potomac Electric Power Company (PEPCO) from 1973-1990. Though he specialized in contract and procurement law, he worked on a full gamut of legal cases, defending PEPCO against lawsuits, negotiating union contracts and settling worker's compensation claims.
He was a member of the bar of the Supreme Court of Illinois, the Supreme Court of the United States, the Supreme Court of Mississippi and the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia.
Survivors include his wife of 58 years, Mildrene Chaney Thomasson of Springfield; a son, Samuel M. Thomasson III of Los Angels; a daughter, Elizabeth Ann Thomasson of Alexandria, Va.; sisters, Elizabeth Hedgpeth of Pensacola, Fla., and Knootsie Mitchell of DeKalb; brothers, Hugh Thomasson of Philadelphia and Bill Thomasson of Summit; three nieces and two nephews.
Memorials may be made to the Thomasson Scholarship Fund, School of Nursing, University of Mississippi Foundation, P.O. Box 249, University, MS 38677.
Visitation will be Saturday 6 p.m.-8 p.m. at the funeral home.
Arrangements were incomplete at Barham Funeral Home for Henry Blum, 66, of Toomsuba, who died Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2003, in his home.