Obituaries for Friday, Jan. 23, 2004

By Staff
Bookkeeper and salesperson
MACON Services for William Hurley "Bill" Avery Jr. will be held today at 2 p.m. at Cooksville United Methodist Church with the Rev. Glenn Miller officiating. Burial will be in Cooksville Cemetery. Cockrell Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
Mr. Avery, 44, of Macon, died Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2004, in his home.
Survivors include his father, Hurley Avery of Macon; sister, Gloria A. Senter and her husband, Alan, of Columbus; and a niece.
He was preceded in death by his mother, Charlotte Price Avery.
Visitation will be today one hour prior to the service at the church.
BUTLER, Ala. Services for Angela Carol Shirley will be held Saturday at 11 a.m. at Liberty Baptist Church with the Rev. Michael Gibson officiating. Burial will be in Liberty Baptist Church in Cuba with Bumpers Funeral Home in charge of arrangements.
Mrs. Shirley, 36, of Cuba, died Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2004, at Hill Hospital in York.
Survivors include her father, David F. Shirley of Cuba; paternal grandmother, Sarah Shirley of Lisman.
She was preceded in death by her mother, Nina Wilson Shirley and a sister, Theresa Lynn Shirley.
Visitation will be today from 6 p.m.-8 p.m. at the funeral home.
Retired contractor
Services for William "Bill" Shumate will be held Saturday at 11:30 a.m. at Stephens Funeral Home Chapel with the Rev. Dr. Carl White officiating. Burial will be in Meridian Memorial Park Cemetery.
Mr. Shumate, 81, of Meridian, died Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2004, at Rush Foundation Hospital. He was a member of Highland Baptist Church.
Survivors include his wife, Jacqueline Shumate of Meridian; sons, David Shumate and his wife, Donna, of Clinton and Billy Shumate of Meridian; a daughter, Sharon Shumate of Nashville, Tenn.; a brother, Jack Shumate of Panama City, Fla.; and four grandchildren, Tara Shumate and Kelsey Shumate, both of Clinton and Meggan Shumate and Colby Shumate, both of Meridian.
Visitation will be today from 6 p.m.-8 p.m. at the funeral home.
NEWTON William Patrick "Pat" McMullan, Jr. died on Wednesday, Jan. 21, at St. Luke's Hospital in Jacksonville, Fla., surrounded by his six loving children. He had been a resident of Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., since 1990 and was a communicant of Christ Episcopal Church.
Mr. McMullan was a native of Lake, Mississippi the son of Mary Lucy Pace McMullan and W.P. McMullan. He was educated in the schools of Lake, Macon and Newton, Mississippi. He graduated from the University of Mississippi with a bachelor's degree, followed by a master's degree in banking and finance from the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania.
Mr. McMullan began his banking career at Morgan Guaranty Trust Company, New York, New York, following his graduation from Wharton. After serving with Morgan Guaranty for two years, he was elected vice president of Newton County Bank, Newton, Mississippi, in 1950, and in 1955 was elected president. In 1957, he was appointed State Comptroller of the Department of Bank Supervision, State of Mississippi. Mr. McMullan was elected to the position of vice president and assistant to the president of Deposit Guaranty National Bank, Jackson, Mississippi, in 1960. He was elected executive vice president in November 1961, and was elevated to president on Feb. 18, 1969. In 1973 he was named president and chief operating officer of Deposit Guaranty Corporation. In 1975 he was named chairman of the board and chief executive officer of The Mississippi Bank. In October 1983 he resigned to become chairman of the board of First Mississippi National Corporation and senior vice chairman of First Mississippi National Bank from 1983 to 1984.
Mr. McMullan served as vice chairman of the board of Newton County Bank, Newton, Mississippi, and was a member of the board of trustees of the Mississippi Baptist Medical Center. Mr. McMullan was a member of the Jackson Municipal Airport Authority Board for 20 years and served as chairman for 13 years. He was a director of Mobile Communications Corporation of America, Cal-Maine Foods, Magna Corporation, Standard Life Insurance Co., and chairman of Bay Springs Bank.
Active in national and state affairs, Mr. McMullan was a member of the executive committee of the Democratic National Finance Council and served as state finance chairman of the 1976 and 1980 Jimmy Carter campaigns, as well as for the 1984 Walter Mondale campaign. He served banking and finance-related associations on both the national and state levels throughout his banking career.
Mr. McMullan was an active supporter in the fields of education, art and science and served as a director and chairman of numerous civic organizations and fund drives. He served in the U.S. Army Air Force during World War II; was a member of the Sons of the American Revolution and the Kappa Alpha Order and was admitted to the Court of Honor in 1974. He was a member of the Country Club of Jackson and the Metropolitan Club of New York.
Mr. McMullan received his honorary degree of Doctor of Business on September 10, 1981, from William Carey College.
He loved his family, and his most special times were spent with them. He was an inveterate reader and story teller, and his children and grandchildren loved to hear of growing up in small-town Mississippi in the twenties and thirties. He had a love of history and instilled in his children a love of the same. He is remembered by his friends and family for his warm smile, gracious and always optimistic outlook. He joins his mother and father and stepmother, Charlotte Yates McMullan, in heaven.
He is survived by his daughter Julie Kehoe and her husband, Bill, of Jackson, their children Erin Boland, Mary Clare Tanner, Kathleen, Will and Andrew Kehoe; his daughter Mary Charlotte Safford and her husband Randy, their children Matthew and Jeremiah of Morganton, N.C.; his son, William Patrick McMullan III and his wife, Rachel, their children Pace and Isabel, of Brooklyn, N.Y.; his son Michael Lyons and his wife Jeanie, their children Michael, Emily, Stephen and Charlotte, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; his son Robert Jeremiah and his wife Laura, and their children Mollie, Robert and William of Darien, Conn.; and his son Wilson Malcolm of Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.; his great-grandson Hodges Boland; and his brother, Paul Wilson McMullan of Hattiesburg, and his wife Mary George; he is also survived by his aunt Geraldine McMullan Brown; his nephew Paul Wilson McMullan Jr.; and many cousins.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorials be sent to the University of Mississippi Foundation for the William Patrick McMullan Jr. Scholarship Endowment, P.O. Box 249, University, Mississippi, 38677.
Visitation will be Saturday, Jan. 24, at James F. Webb Funeral Home in Newton, from noon-1:45 p.m. The funeral will be held at 2 p.m. in the chapel at the funeral home, with burial in Newton Masonic Cemetery. Friends are invited to a celebration of his life at Eastbrooke Clubhouse in Jackson at 7 p.m. Saturday evening.