By Staff
Memorial services for Josephine Blanks Rea will be held Friday at 11 a.m. at St. Paul's Episcopal Church with the Rev. F. Gregory Proctor officiating. Internment will be in the church columbarium. Barham Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
Mrs. Rea, 83, of Meridian, died Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2003, in her home. She was a member of St. Paul's Episcopal Church for more than 60 years where she served on the alter flower committee.
Survivors include her husband, George R. Rea Sr.; sons, George "Bob" Rea Jr. and his wife, Karen, and Chuck Rea and his wife, Bobbie, all of Meridian; a daughter, Merry Rea Thomas and her husband, Dick, of Bay St. Louis; eight grandchildren, Merry Jo Rea, Barbara Hebert, Sara Campos, Meredith Rea, John Rea, Paul Montjoy, Rea Montjoy and Linn Montjoy; and four great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Percy and Lillian Pigford Blanks; and sisters, Kate Clark and Lillian Rose Carmichael.
Memorials may be made to St. Paul's Episcopal Church Memorial Fund.
Visitation will be Friday one hour prior to the service at the church.
DEKALB Graveside services for Antonnio J.L. Hibbler will be held Friday at 4 p.m. at Beulah Church Cemetery with the Rev. Samuel Phillips officiating. E.E. McDonald Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
Infant Hibbler, two months, of DeKalb, died Sunday, Sept. 7, 2003, at Rush Foundation Hospital.
Survivors include his parents, Ricky Billups of Noxapater and Martha A. Hibbler of DeKalb; siblings, James Boyd, Charlene Boyd, Darlene Boyd, Erica Hibbler, Javone Hibbler, Ruatesha Hibbler, Katrice Hibbler, Chyna Hibbler, Jeneshyia Ingram and Jamya Hardin, all of DeKalb; grandparents, Mary A. Nolan of Meridian and Robert Boyd of DeKalb; and several aunts, uncles and other relatives.
He was preceded in death by his great-grandparents.
Homemaker
Services for Margaret "Mot" Goodwin will be held Saturday at 11 a.m. at Mt. Calvary Baptist Church with the Rev. Greg Williams officiating. Burial will be in Sunset Cemetery. Berry and Gardner Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
Miss Goodwin, 52, of Meridian, died Friday, Sept. 5, 2003, at Jeff Anderson Regional Medical Center.
Survivors include her father, the Rev. O.L. Goodwin; a daughter, Lakeitha Goodwin; sisters, Dorothy Hudson, Mary Smith and Sarah Walker, all of Meridian, Betty Williams of Bronx, N.Y., Thelma Patrick of Livingston, Ala., and Hattie Brown of Arkadia, Fla.; and several nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her mother and brothers.
Visitation will be Friday 7 p.m.-8 p.m. at the funeral home.
Educator
YANTLEY, Ala. Services for Katherine Marsh Longmyer will be held Saturday at 11 a.m. at Pleasant Hill Baptist Church. Burial will be in the church cemetery. A service was held Friday, Sept. 5 at Metropolitan Memorial United Methodist Church in Washington, D.C.
Mrs. Longmyer, 102, of Falls Church, Va., died Monday, Sept. 1, 2003, in Falls Church. She was born in Yantley on Jan. 23, 1901, the youngest of eight children to Alice Littlepage and Bill Marsh, who were born slaves. At the age of 12, Katherine was baptized at the Pleasant Hill Baptist Church in Yantley.
Race and gender were all important when Katherine was born. As a "colored" child with fair skin and blue eyes in a racially polarized society, she faced a hostile environment outside her immediate community. But she was blessed with an exceptionally warm and caring family, whom she loved greatly all of her life.
She left home when she was about eight to live with her sister, Isabella, in Laurel, so she could go to school. When she was old enough to strike out on her own, she went north to work and study. During this period, she worked in a hospital kitchen in Cleveland, ran an elevator in a department store in St. Louis, and sold clothing at Marshal Fields in Chicago. She also worked in St. Louis, Kansas City and Topeka, where she finished high school.
Katherine began college at Crane Junior College in Chicago. During the Depression, Katherine returned to Yantley to visit family. Because her mother's health was declining, Katherine remained in Alabama and Mississippi.
In 1935, she married John Longmyer, whom she was divorced in 1945.
After her mother died, Katherine began a school for the neighborhood children. Their first classes were held beneath the chinaberry tree in Katherine's front yard. She then joined with other parents in the community and petitioned the county to pay her a salary.
When winter came, she moved her students into her home. Katherine and the parents then collected funds to build a one-room school. The school burned, so they rebuilt it out of cinder block and it was called the "Yantley Station School."
The county closed the Yantley School in 1953. Needing a job for herself and good schools for her son, Katherine moved to Santa Monica, Calif. After her son finished college, Katherine returned to Montgomery, Ala., where she completed her degree in 1958. She then returned to California, where she taught in San Luis Obispo and in Sonoma County until she retired. After retiring, she bought a small house overlooking San Francisco Bay where she lived until she went to live with her son in Virginia in 1987.
Survivors include her son, Kenneth Longmyer of Falls Church, Va.; granddaughters, Katie and Kayla; and many nieces and nephews.
Retired paperwood employee
QUITMAN Services for Calton Pearson will be held Saturday at 2 p.m. at Mt. Rose Baptist Church in Quitman with the Rev. Carlos Wilson officiating. Burial will be in the church cemetery. Berry and Gardner Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
Mr. Pearson, 85, of Stonewall, died Sunday, Sept. 7, 2003, in his home.
Survivors include his wife, Emma Pearson of Stonewall; daughters, Mary R. Pearson of Meridian and Eva Fay Oliver and her husband, James, of Chicago; sisters, Juretha Newman of Stonewall and Inez Green of Racine, Wis.; and one granddaughter.
He was preceded in death by his parents.
Visitation will be Friday 6 p.m.-7 p.m. at the funeral home in Quitman.
Arrangements were incomplete at E.E. McDonald Funeral Home for Willie Vester Lewis, 100, of Collinsville, who died Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2003, at Reginald P. White Nursing Facility in Meridian.
Arrangements were incomplete at Berry and Gardner Funeral Home for Minnie P. Reid, 62, of Sacramento, Calif., who died Sunday, Sept. 7, 2003, in her home.