BILLY LESTER
Billy W. Lester, 70, died Thursday, Aug. 4, 2011 at Hospice Ministries in Ridgeland.
Funeral services were Sunday at the Stricklin-King Funeral Home chapel with Rev. Mark Yeatman and Rev. Shannon Martin officiating. Burial followed at Flora City Cemetery.
Mr. Lester was born Dec. 12, 1940 in Yazoo County to Tom and Bertha Waller Lester. He was a U.S. Air Force veteran, a manager for Valley Food Service and a member of Ogden Baptist Church.
Survivors include four daughters, Kim Lungrin, Cheryl Bright and Terry Shepherd, all of Bentonia and Misty Shepherd of Watertown; a son, Donny Spell of Brandon; four brothers, Tommy Lester of Madison, Jerry Lester of Flowood, Danny Lester of Clinton and Ricky Lester of Madison; four sisters, Phalla Ables of Bentonia, Dale Blair of Elko, Nevada, Bobbie Cecernous of Brandon and Sharon Langham of Flora; 11 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
Serving as pallbearers were Blake Bright, Austin Lungrin, Tim “Bubba” Shepherd, Keith Lungrin, Mitch Olson and Kendall Spell.

LOUISE SHANNON

On August 3, 2011 Louise Goode Shannon, age 90, died peacefully at King’s Daughters Hospital in the presence of her beloved daughters who so faithfully and lovingly attended her during her illness with cholangiocarcinoma.
Visitation was in the chapel of First Presbyterian Church, Yazoo City, on August 6, 2011 between the hours of  9:30 a.m. until 11 a.m. with a memorial worship following in the church sanctuary at 11 a.m., Pastor Sam Smith officiating.  Interment will be in the family plot, Glenwood Cemetery, with Stricklin-King Funeral Home in charge.
Louise, the youngest of six children was born 19 March 1921 to the late R.V. and Mildred Goode on the black bottom land farmed by her father just outside the city of Tupelo. On Highway 45 North, the first stretch of concrete road in the South.  She was reared in Silver City after the family moved to the Delta in 1930, living briefly at Carter first.  In 1941 she was married to the late J.C. Shannon of Holly Bluff, a farm and implement dealer who also designed, manufactured and successfully marketed the Shannon Post merge Row-Shaver.
In 1951 J.C. and Louise, with their three young daughters moved from Holly Bluff to Yazoo City.  Strongly believing that one’s church membership should accompany one’s physical presence and material possessions, Louise promptly requested transfer of her membership from Holly Bluff Baptist to First Baptist Church and was blessed to have been a member of that congregation for many years and have her children spiritually nurtured there.
She loved to hear the Word preached, to sing the Biblically grounded great hymns of faith, to be with God’s people, to give to God’s Work and to serve Him through His Church.
In 2002 when her daughter, Rae, moved back to Yazoo City and became organist for First Presbyterian Church, Louise asked for , was warmly received into its membership and was blessed to be a member of that congregation until her death.  At First Presbyterian she was a member of the WIC Prayer Band, the WIC Food Ministry and served as interim teacher of the Ladies’ Bible Class.
After her Church and family she enjoyed traveling which she did extensively here and abroad, on land and on sea, good music, keeping up with politics and doing family genealogy.  She reveled in reading and studying serious conservative Christian and secular books and magazines.  She was a life member and past president of the Mississippi Chapter of the National Society of Daughters of Founders and Patriots of America, a member of the Mississippi Republican Party.
Louise is preceded in death by her parents, all her siblings, her husband, youngest daughter Susan Shannon Shockley and son-in-law James Allen Screws.  Survivors include her beloved daughters Carol Screws Love (Tom) and Rae Shannon of Yazoo City; beloved grandchildren Dawn Screws McLaughlin (Shawn) Bainbridge, PA, Charlie Shannon (Norah) Bellingham, WA, Rob Screws (Albina) Jackson, MS; cherished great grandchildren Shea Erin and Sarah Woodson McLaughlin, Bainbridge, PA, Olivia Nicole, Charles Cooper, Christopher Cale and Emery Clare Shannon, Bellingham, WA, Victoria Alexandra “Alex” and Katarina Isabella “Bella” Screws of Brandon; one nephew Carl Goode, Jr, (Patty) Warren, OH, niece Barbara Goode Anderson (Charles) also of Warren, and Sheila Goode Wishart (Paul) Gainseville, FL; great nephews Chad Anderson (Tricia) Granger, IN, David Anderson Cincinnati, OH, Mark Anderson (Brandi) Leehigh Acres, FL, Ron Wihart, Gainesville, FL, Tom Wishart, Garden City, GA, Scott Wishart (Jennifer), Charlotte, N.C., and Steve Wishart (Leslie) Guatemala City, Guatemala.
Memorials may be made to First Presbyterian Church in Yazoo City.

HAZEL WATERS

Funeral services for Hazel Waters, 90, were 11 a.m. Aug. 8, 2011, from New Foundation Baptist Church in Greenhill.
Interment followed at Valley Home Cemetery in Bayland under the funeral directions of Century Funeral Home.
Mrs. Waters died July 30 at Mississippi Baptist Medical Center in Jackson.
Survivors are a sister, Mary McGinnis; two nieces, Blanche Reed and Yvonne McGinnis; and a host of other relatives. She was preceded in death by her parents, Nathaniel and Blanche Martin of Greenhill; and her husband, Jim Waters.
Serving as pallbearers were Walter France, McKinley Langston, Matthew McGinnis, JonPaul Reed and Lewis Williams.
Maurice McGinnis, Sam McGinnis and Willie McGinnis werer honorary pallbearers.

KATY DONALDA DAVIS ABBOTT

Katy Donalda Davis Abbott of Harrison Arkansas, formerly of Mississippi, passed awayon June 17, 2011, in Little Rock, Ark.
Donalda was born on Aug. 17, 1936, in Jackson Mississippi to Mary and Guy Davis.
She moved to Benton when she was seven years old.  She graduated from Benton High School and Mississippi College.  She taught school abroad for several years in England and Germany where she met her first husband, Lt. Colonel Harley R. Williams. It was there that they welcomed their daughter, Selina.  They lived at various military bases until Harley's retirement when they moved back to the Jackson area and until Harley's death in 1982.
Donalda met and married retired Air Force Captain, Milton E. Abbott in 1984.  He passed away in 1993.
Donalda lived the last years of her life in Harrison, Ark. to be near the joy of her life, her daughter Selina.
Donalda was preceded in death by her parents, Mary and Guy Davis, her first husband Harley Williams and husband Milton Abbott.
Survivors are her daughter, Selina, and her husband, Steve Holland, of Alexandria, La.; her sister, Faye, and her husband, Al Potenza of California; her brother, Guy and his wife Anna Davis of Alabama; four nieces and one nephew; and her faithful companions Leo and Tar Tar.
A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 20, at the Benton  United Methodist Church with visitation afterward in the fellowship hall.
In lieu of flowers the family asks that memorials be made to CARA (Community Animal Rescue and Adoption), 960 Flag Chapel Road, Jackson, MS  39209