Obituaries

Mary (King) Fry (08/05/04)
Mary Fry (nee King), 92, of Cahokia, Ill., a native of Rector, died Saturday, July 31, 2004 at Belleville Memorial Hospital. She was born April 18, 1912, in Rector to the late C.H. and Solphi Burford King. She was a 50-year member of the Eastern Star of Rector, a former member of the White Shrine of Jerusalem of East St. Louis, Ill., and a member of the Maplewood Church of Christ in Cahokia...

Dencial E. Crews (08/05/04)
Dencial E. Crews, 71, of Piggott, died Tuesday, July 27, 2004, at his home. He was born Dec. 2, 1932, in Boydsville, the son of the late Virgil and Flossie McElyea Crews. He married Norma Harrell on Nov. 9, 1951, and they had three children. He was preceded in death by one sister, Sue Staggs...

J.W. Bookout (08/12/04)
J.W. Bookout, 80, of Rector died Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2004, at his home. Born in Rector, he was a funeral director and was retired as the manager of Irby Funeral Home. He later worked part-time for Mitchell Funeral Home. He was a member and former trustee of the Rector First United Methodist Church. In his early years, he was a volunteer fireman. He was the Grand Marshal for the Rector Labor Day Picnic Parade in 1994 and received a Community Service Award...

Wilma Dale Presson (08/18/04)
Wilma Dale Presson, 68, of Rector died Thursday, Aug. 12, 2004, at Rector Healthcare. She was born Oct. 9, 1936, in Leachville to the late William Dewey Jeter and Irene Jeter. She was married to James Guthrie, the father of her daughters, and to the late Larry Presson...

Gerald Lee Crum (08/18/04)
Gerald Lee Crum, 53, of Jonesboro, died Friday, Aug. 13, 2004, in Jonesboro. He was born Feb. 18, 1951, in White Oak to Fred Lee and Bobbie Jean Crum, now of Rector. He was a veteran of the National Guard and a member of Antioch Baptist Church. He was preceded in death by one son, Garth Lee Crum; his grandfather, Fred Crum, and grandmother, Etta Vinson...

Sheila Jean Rohrer (08/18/04)
Sheila Jean Rohrer, 42, of Rector died Friday, Aug. 13, 2004, at St. Bernards Regional Medical Center in Jonesboro. She was born Nov. 9, 1961, in Rockford, Ill., to the late Max Rodden and Norma Jean (Cantwell) Rodden. She was a housewife, of the General Baptist faith and had lived most of her life in this community...

Emogene Simpson Irby (08/18/04)
Emogene Simpson Irby, 91, of Piggott died Aug. 15, 2004, at the General Baptist Nursing Home in Campbell. She was a loving and devoted wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. She was a faithful and loyal member of the South Thornton Church of Christ. She was happiest spending time with her family and attending her church. Her hobbies included sewing, cooking, playing golf and traveling. She worked with her husband through many successful business ventures...

Harold David (Top) Thompson (08/18/04)
Harold David (Top) Thompson, 67, of Morongo Valley, Calif., formerly of Rector, died Thursday, July 29, 2004, at his home. He was born April 7, 1937, in Rector to the late Fred and Mattie Thompson. He also was preceded in death by an infant daughter, Kimberly; one brother, J.W. Thompson; and one sister, Freda Thompson Roley...

Ernestina Vienna "Tina" McCartney (08/18/04)
Ernestina Vienna "Tina" McCartney, 78, of Las Vegas, Nev., died March 17, 2004, at her home. She was born July 6, 1925, in Rector to the late Jesse and Grace Edwards and was married May 2, 1942, to Wayne McCartney. Known affectionately as "Tene," she was the second child of three girls and three boys who grew up in the Hopewell community near Rector. ...

Lilly C. Shockley (08/25/04)
Lilly C. Shockley, 80, of Memphis, Tenn., formerly of Rector, died Sunday, Aug. 22, 2004, at Methodist Hospital North in Memphis. She was born April 11, 1924, in Butler County, Mo., to the late James Thomas Merritt and Margaret Callow Merritt. She was a homemaker and of the General Baptist faith...

William Paul Foulk (08/25/04)
William Paul Foulk, 82, of Piggott died Thursday, Aug. 19, 2004, at St. Bernard's Regional Medical Center in Jonesboro. He was born Sept. 16, 1921, in Stanford, Ark., the son of William Judson Foulk and Myrtle Elizabeth Hutchins Foulk. Foulk was a life-long farmer and until his death also owned and operated Foulk's Two-Way Radio Supply...