Obituaries for Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2004
By Staff
Retired forester
PHILADELPHIA Services for George Chapman will be held today at 1 p.m. at McClain-Hays Funeral Service Chapel with the Revs. Lawrence Runnels and Bill Cox officiating. Burial will be in Sandtown Cemetery in Philadelphia.
Mr. Chapman, 79, of Philadelphia, died Friday, Jan. 23, 2004, at Rush Foundation Hospital. He was born and raised in Coffeeville and moved to Philadelphia in the 1950s. He was a retired forester with the Mississippi Forestry Commission. He was a veteran of World War II and Korea. He was a member of North Calvary Baptist Church.
Survivors include his wife, Carolyn Chapman; a son, Brad Chapman; grandchildren, Lillie Katelin Chapman and Samantha Carol Chapman, all of Philadelphia; sisters, Jean Yeager of Coffeeville, Earlene Burke and Deweybelle Shipp, both of Big Creek.
Retired
Graveside services for Rosa Lee Watkins will be held Wednesday at 10 a.m. at Graham Cemetery with the Revs. Frank Tribble and Dave Hudson officiating. James F. Webb Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
Mrs. Watkins, 85, of Meridian, died Sunday, Jan. 25, 2004, at Rush Foundation Hospital. She was a retired seamstress, a certified nursing assistant and a foster parent. She was well known as a quilter and a member of Mt. Vernon Baptist Church.
Survivors include her sons, Martin Watkins and his wife, Johnnie, and Johnny Watkins and his wife, Alleen; a daughter, Margaret Winstead and her husband, Sonny; eight grandchildren, 14 great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren; three sisters and one brother.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Andrew "Buddy" Watkins; a son, Arnold Wayne Watkins; and a daughter, Sandra Ann Watkins.
Pallbearers will be Stephen Shelby, Chris Winstead, Jason Franklin, Josh Watkins, Mark Stokes and Matt Watkins.
Honorary pallbearers will be Marty and Dawn Watkins, Adrienne Watkins, Gina and Gabe Gunter, Kelly and Billy Stafford, and Keith Hales.
Visitation will be today 5 p.m.-8 p.m. at the funeral home.
Retired
PHILADELPHIA Services for Collette Cockrell Rush will be held Wednesday at 2 p.m. at McClain-Hays Funeral Service Chapel with the Revs. Jack Smith, former pastor of First United Methodist Church in Grenada, and Rick Holbert, pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, officiating. Burial will be in Cedarlawn Cemetery in Philadelphia.
Mrs. Rush, 83, of Philadelphia, died Saturday, Jan. 24, 2004, at Neshoba County General Hospital in Philadelphia.
She was a graduate of Philadelphia High School and business school in Memphis, Tenn. She worked for Henderson Molpus Lumber Company before moving to Albuquerque, N.M. and later to Okinawa with her husband, who was in the military and served in World War II and Korea.
Following the Korean War, the Rushes moved to Miami, where she was a secretary at Daye and Drake Food Brokers in Miami. In 1979, the Rushes retired back to Philadelphia where she was a homemaker for 25 years.
Mrs. Rush was a member of First Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia for many years.
Survivors include her children, Brenda Rush Lee of Grenada and Rex Rush of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.; grandchildren, Jay Lee of Senatobia, Muffet Lee McPhail of Grenada, Alyssa Rush and Shelby Rush of Ft. Lauderdale.
She was preceded in death by her husband, James Roy Rush.
Pallbearers will be Joe Puckett, Louis McWilliams, Carl Watts, Dwayne Watts, Joe Nowell, Sam Nowell, Jerry Nowell, Jeb Gordon Stewart, Jimmy Rea, Kenny Rea, Hoop Weems and Wayne McPhail.
Memorials may be made to First Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia.
Visitation will be Wednesday beginning at noon until service time at the funeral home.
Arrangements were incomplete at Stephens Funeral Home for Annie Laverne Morrow, 86, of Decatur, died Monday, Jan. 26, 2004, in her home.
Arrangements were incomplete at James F. Webb Funeral Home for Jesse Joiner, 57, of the Zero Community, died Monday, Jan. 26, 2004, in his home.
Arrangements were incomplete at James F. Webb Funeral Home of Newton for Lillie M. Clark, 69, of Newton, who died Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2004, at Guardian Angel Healthcare in Philadelphia.
