Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Cedric D. Clark

Owner Clark’s Memorial Funeral Home



Services for Cedric D. Clark will be held Friday at noon at First Union Baptist Church with the Revs. William C. Brown, William Harper and Melvin Hendricks officiating. Burial will be in Forest Lawn Cemetery. Clark’s Memorial Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Mr. Clark, 42, of Meridian, died Friday, Feb. 16, 2007, at Rush Foundation Hospital.

While still little more than an infant, Cedric showed a real interest in music. He learned to play the piano and the organ by ear, and could pick up on almost any song he heard. When he entered middle school at Carver, he began playing trombone in the band. He continued playing the tuba and trombone throughout high school at Meridian High School.

It was also at Carver that his career path was set. Through a unit study on career choices, Cedric learned about mortuary science. At the time, he and his family lived on 28th Avenue, a few houses up from Webster’s Metropolitan Funeral Home. After going on funerals with Mr. Webster, an earlier fear which he had of the dead seemed to dissolve completely, casting the dye for a career in funeral service.

He grew up attending First Union Missionary Baptist Church with his parents. He faithfully attended Sunday School until he finished high school. He also sang in the R.L. Brown Choir during his youth. He remained a member of First Union, attending church regularly and participating in such activities as Men’s Day and other special programs when called upon.

He served as president of the Youth Division of the Mississippi State Conference NAACP during his junior year of high school, and represented the state at the NAACP National Convention in Denver, in 1981.

He entered the first grade in 1970, the year of school desegregation in elementary schools in Meridian. His Meridian High School Class of 1982 was the first class in Meridian to complete 12 years of totally integrated classes. The fall after his graduation, he entered East Mississippi Junior College in Scooba to study mortuary science. He graduated in 1984 and returned to Meridian to resume his internship at Berry and Gardner Funeral Home. He considered George F. Sims his mentor and spoke fondly of Mr. Sims throughout his career.

In 1987, with the help and support of his parents and his uncle, Revis Burton, Cedric founded the Clark’s Memorial Funeral Home. He was granted a license to operate by the Mississippi State Board of Funeral Service in the summer of that year. The site of his first funeral home was on Fifth Street and 39th Avenue, and he later opened Clark’s Memorial Funeral Home at 621 30th Avenue in Meridian. In 1999, he was able to build the current brick structure at 620 30th Avenue and moved across the street from the large white house where it all started in 1987. In 2005, he expanded his business by opening funeral homes in Newton, and York, Ala.

Mr. Clark was active in the Elks and served faithfully as treasurer of Metropolitan Lodge No. 551 for two years. He also served on the Housing Committee and as a Leading Knight, and was a State Special Deputy. He was also active in the Mississippi Funeral Directors and Morticians Association and the National Funeral Directors and Morticians Association.

Survivors include his parents, Obie and Melba Clark; a sister, Tracey Clark Washington and her husband, Korey, a niece, Clark Elizabeth Washington; nephews, Jason Washington and Andrew Washington, both of Atlanta; his fiancée Katrina Henderson and children; aunts, Thelma Hickman and Ollie Jean Bailey, both of Jackson, Barbara Johnson of Newark, N.J. and Doris C. Baird, of Pensacola, Fla.; uncles, Robert F. Baird of Memphis, Tenn., Teaster T. Baird and Marvin L. Baird, of Ashland; god-sister, Kyna Jones of Memphis; numerous first cousins, five great-aunts; one great-uncle, Revis Burton and other relatives and friends.

Visitation will be Thursday from noon – 8 p.m. at the funeral home and Friday one hour prior to the service at the church.

Clarene Smith James



UNION — Services for Clarene Smith James will be held Thursday at 11 a.m. at Beulah Baptist Church with the Rev. Keith Ramage officiating. Burial will be in the church cemetery. Milling Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Mrs. James, 90, died Monday, Feb. 19, 2007, at Jeff Anderson Regional Medical Center. She was a lifelong member of Beulah Baptist Church.

Survivors include her daughter, Nadine Chaney and her husband, Billie, of Little Rock; sons, Frankie James and his wife, Meneko, of Columbus and Bobby James and his wife, Janie, of Little Rock; eight grandchildren; 17 great-grandchildren; a sister, Dot Shealy Cooper of Robertsdale, Ala.

She was preceded in death by her husband, B.L. James; parents, Lee and Macie Smith; a brother, Jimmie Smith; sisters, Helen Ingram and Catherine Harbour.

Visitation will be today from 6 p.m.- 9 p.m. at the funeral home.



Frank O. Starnes

Retired



Services for Frank O. Starnes will be held Thursday at 1:30 p.m. at James F. Webb Funeral Home Chapel with the Rev. Jim Rickles officiating. Burial will be in Memorial Park Cemetery.

Mr. Starnes, 84, of Meridian, died Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2007, at the Regency Hospital of Meridian. He was a member of Emanuel Baptist Church. He was retired from Flynt Kote.

Survivors include his wife, Mable Starnes of Meridian; daughters, Donna Jones and her husband, James, of Laurel, Deloris Ashmore and her husband, James of Russellville, Ark. and Diane Rhea and her husband, Wayne, of Lexington; a brother, J.W. Starnes of Vicksburg; sisters, Eunice Fitzgerald and Lucelle Benson, both of Meridian; six grandchildren; four great-grandchildren and several nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his parents, John Frank Starnes and Johnnie Myrtis McGowen Starnes and a son, Gerald Scott Starnes and a great-grandson, Jesse Ennis.

Pallbearers will be James Ashmore, Wayne Rhea, James Jones, Michael Ashmore, Eric Jones and Len Ware.

Visitation will be today from 4 p.m.-7 p.m. at the funeral home.



Freeman Spurgeon Allen

Disabled



PHILADELPHIA — Services for Freeman Spurgeon Allen will be held Thursday at 2 p.m. at Pentecostal Indian Mission. Burial will be in Isleep Cemetery in Philadelphia. John E. Stephens Chapel Funeral Services is in charge of arrangements.

Mr. Allen, 60, of Philadelphia, died Monday, Feb. 19, 2007, at Jeff Anderson Regional Medical Center.

Survivors include his wife, Elizabeth Allen; daughters, Trina Anderson and Cheryl Willis and a son, John Allen; three sisters; seven grandchildren; two great-grandchildren and several nieces and nephews.

Arthur William Beard



GILBERTOWN, Ala. — Services for Arthur William Beard will be held Thursday at 2 p.m. at Phillips Funeral Home Chapel with the Revs. Leon Ross and Doug Chapman officiating. Burial will be in Barrytown Cemetery.

Mr. Beard, 52, of Gilbertown, died Monday, Feb. 19, 2007, at Jeff Anderson Regional Medical Center in Meridian, Miss.

Survivors include his wife, Sybil Beard; a son, Greg Beard; a daughter, Jennifer Thompson and six grandchildren.

Visitation will be today from 6 p.m.- 8 p.m. at the funeral home.



Mattie Lois Vance

Homemaker



Services for Mattie Lois Vance will be held Friday at 10 a.m. at Barham Funeral Home Chapel with the Rev. Sephus Garrett officiating. Burial will be in Meridian Memorial Park Cemetery.

Mrs. Vance, 92, of Meridian, died Sunday, Feb. 18, 2007, at Regency Hospital in Meridian. She was a member of Christian Fellowship First Independent Methodist Church where she taught Sunday School for many years. She will be remembered as a loving mother and homemaker who loved her Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. She loved her family and many friends and all things beautiful. She will be remembered as a gifted listener who exemplified a giving heart. She was known for her prayers, fruit pies and caramel cakes.

Survivors include her daughter, Janet Vance Barham and her husband, Robert, of Meridian; grandsons, Rob Barham and his fiancée, Joanne Sawyer, of Bryson City, N.C. and Michael Barham of Oakland, Calif.; sisters-in-law, Mabel Mayfield of Meridian and June Thompson of Dothan, Ala. and several friends, nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her husband, John Henry Vance; sisters, Mildred Evans and Louine Williams and a brother, William R. Thompson Jr.

Visitation will be Thursday from 6 p.m.- 8 p.m. at the funeral home.



Estella Williams Lewis

Homemaker



DEKALB — Services for Estella Williams Lewis will be held Saturday at 2 p.m. at Old Shiloh Baptist Church in Shuqualak with the Rev. Ronald Murray officiating. Burial will be in the church cemetery. E.E. McDonald Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Mrs. Lewis, 97, of Macon, died Saturday, Feb. 17, 2007, at Noxubee County General Hospital in Macon.

She was preceded in death by her husband and a daughter.

Visitation will be Saturday one hour prior to the service at the church.



Emmett Thompson



Arrangements were incomplete at Clark’s Memorial Funeral Home for Emmett Thompson, 83, of Meridian, who died Monday, Feb. 19, 2007, at Jeff Anderson Regional Medical Center.