Obituaries for Monday, October 12, 2004

By Staff
Retired
EDINBURG, Texas Memorial services for John Luther McElroy Jr. will be held Sunday at Texas Trails R.V. Resort in Pharr with cremation taking place in Val Verde Memorial Gardens in Donna. Memorial Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
Mr. McElroy, 73, of Pharr, died Friday, Oct. 8, 2004, at Comfort House in McAllen. He was born in Meridian and had lived in Pharr for eight years. He was a member of First United Methodist Church in McAllen. He was a lifetime member of the Lion's Club. He was an A.W.W.A director of Public Works with the City of Meridian where he retired after more than 25 years. He went to work for the City of Forest, where he retired after 20 years. He and his wife were avid square dancers and for the past eight years of his life, they traveled all over the country in an RV for six months out of the year.
Survivors include his wife, Odell McElroy of Pharr and a daughter, Amelia Morele Blaylock of Corpus Christi.
Memorials may be made to Comfort House, 617 Dallas Ave., McAllen, TX 78501.
Retired
PHILADELPHIA Services for Earline Hendon will be held today at 3 p.m. at McClain-Hays Funeral Service Chapel with the Revs. Mike Sullivan and Ricky Wilcher officiating. Burial will be in Eastlawn Cemetery in Philadelphia.
Mrs. Hendon, 78, of Philadelphia, died Monday, Oct. 11, 2004, at Neshoba County General Hospital in Philadelphia. She lived in Neshoba County most of her life and was a member of Trinity Baptist Church and was a retired sewing machine operator and worked in several factories.
Survivors include her daughters, Virginia Ellingburg, June Jones, Judy Sullivan and Debbie Bridges, all of Philadelphia; sons, Rodney Hendon of Philadelphia, Donnie Hendon and Lonnie Hendon, both of Mount Olive; 15 grandchildren; 28 great-grandchildren; four sisters and one brother.
She was preceded in death by a grandchild, Jeremy Wade May; two great-grandchildren, Michael Brian Jones and Rebekah Jones; two brothers and one sister.
Pallbearers will be Shane Hendon, Daniel Hendon, Jason Hendon, William Long, Matthew Long and Jamie Jones.
Homemaker
Services for Rubena Combs will be held Wednesday at 11 a.m. at Pleasant Grove Baptist Church with the Rev. Gary Mullenix officiating. Burial will be in the church cemetery. Barham Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
Mrs. Combs, 78, of Meridian, died Monday, Oct. 11, 2004, in her home. She was a member of Midway Baptist Church and was retired from General Box Company. She will be remembered as a loving wife to her husband of more than 58 years and one who loved her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Survivors include her husband, Howard Combs Sr.; children, Howard Combs Jr. and his wife, Carolyn, Kane Combs and his wife, Susan, Joey Combs and his wife, Susan, Brenda Lynn Pitts and her husband, W.L., all of Meridian and Mary Etta Jones and her husband, Wayne Sr., of Little Rock; grandchildren, Sandy Rutherford, Candy Upchurch, Brandy Combs, Jason Combs, Karen Dennis, John Howard Stokes, Desiree Mullenix, Leslie Combs, Jamie Sanders, Wayne Jones Jr. and Lois Davidson; 20 grandchildren; a sister, Luver Dee Munn and her husband, Berlin, of Meridian; a sister-in-law, Emma Young of Houston, Texas and several nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Lee Roy Pinson and Ava Pinson; sisters, Lunie Pinson and Jettie Henry.
Pallbearers will be Wayne Jones Jr., Jason Combs, Ronnie Phillips, Mike Munn, Mike Davidson and Dale Weir. Honorary pallbearer will be John Stokes.
Visitation will be today from 5 p.m.-8 p.m. at the funeral home and 30 minutes prior to the service at the church.
GULFPORT Services for Marzelle Kelly Palmer were held Monday at 2 p.m. at Riemann Funeral Home Chapel. Burial was in Floral Hills Memorial Gardens Cemetery.
Mrs. Palmer, of Gulfport, died Friday, Oct. 8, 2004, in her home. Mrs. Palmer was born in Lake, in Newton County to Reuben S. and Roberta Lucy Kelly. She was born the only girl of seven children. She had lived in Gulfport since 1964. She was a graduate of Jackson Commercial College, where she mastered her clerical and accounting skills and later worked as the secretary and bookkeeper at Wright's, then Kilgore's Body Shop in Gulfport for more than 26 years. She was a devoted wife, mother and friend, and took a personal interest in every person she knew.
She was a devout Christian and charter member of the Biloxi Christian Church.
Survivors include her husband of 54 years, John A. Palmer of Gulfport; daughters, Debbie Patton and her husband, Richard, of Saucier, and Kim Palmer of Gulfport; grandchildren, Holly Hyder and her husband, Chris, of Grier, S.C., Leah Lafferty and her fiancee Joey Good of Grier, S.C., Rhianna Fackler of Gulfport and her husband, Chad of Norfolk NAS, Va., and Chelsea Hogan, of Naval Air Station Meridian; step-grandchildren, Christopher Patton and Tina Shaw of Saucier; eight great-grandchildren, Christopher and Brendan Hyder of Grier, S.C, Cierra and Gabriella Fackler of Jacksonville, Fla., Alanna Fackler of Gulfport, Blaine Rudd, Cheyenne Shaw and Christopher Patton Jr. of Saucier and longtime companion, "Boots"; brothers, Joseph Kelly of Savoy, Ill., Clifton Kelly of Lake, Farris Kelly of Vallejo, Calif. and Herman Kelly of Newton.
She was preceded in death by her parents, two brothers, Stanley Kelly of Vallejo, Calif. and Herbert Kelly of Newton.
Arrangements were incomplete at Barham Funeral Home for John W. McCraw Jr., 76, of Meridian, who died Monday, Oct. 11, 2004, at Jeff Anderson Regional Medical Center.