John Michael Chappell

John Michael Chappell died Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2005, at Shady Lawn Nursing Home. He was 72.

A native of Greenville, Mr. Chappell was a longtime resident of Vicksburg. He was a graduate of St. Aloysius High School and attended the University of Southern Mississippi.

He served in the U.S. Marine Corps and was employed in retail sales. He was a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the American Legion and a communicant of St. Paul Catholic Church.

Mr. Chappell was preceded in death by his parents, Simpson Carter Chappell and Bertha White Chappell, and his brother, Simpson Chappell Jr.

He is survived by two sisters, Mary Sue Cappaert of South Hill, Va., and Carolyn Mason of Vicksburg, and several nieces and nephews.

Services will be at 11 a.m. Monday at Cedar Hill Cemetery with Father Patrick Farrell officiating.

Visitation will be at Riles Funeral Home from 10 a.m. Monday until the time of the service.

Pallbearers will be Sylvester Thompson, James Seymour, Harold Moody, Bernard Theobald, Jimmy Speyerer and Don Morton.

Georgia S. Gray

McCOMB Georgia S. Gray died Saturday, Jan. 15, 2005, at Central Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson. She was 93.

Ms. Gray was born in Eden and lived in Rolling Fork for 65 years. She lived in McComb for the past two years.

She was a retired beautician and owned Georgia’s Beauty Shop in Rolling Fork for 52 years. She was a member of Rolling Fork First Baptist Church.

She was preceded in death by her husband, William Hinton Gray and a daughter, Georgia Frances Sharbrough.

She is survived by two sons, William H. Gray Jr. of Pearl and Joseph H. Gray of Flowood; one daughter, Cynthia Worth Westbrook of McComb, and three grandchildren.

Services will be at 3 p.m. Monday at Rolling Fork Baptist Church with the Revs. Millard Caulder and Reese Kyzar officiating. Burial will follow at Mound Cemetery in Rolling Fork.

Pallbearers will be Thad Verden, Robert McAfee, Tommy Scott, Bill Newsom, Eddie Holcomb, Jimmy Walker, John Abney and Clark Carter.

Honorary pallbearers will be Clifton Porter, J.R. Carter, Laurence Carter, Lee Martin, Jimmy Magee, Lyle Bennett, Dr. Danny Jackson and Dr. Kurt Kooyer.

Harvel Dean Loflin

TALLULAH Harvel Dean “Bill” Loflin died Friday, Jan. 14, 2005, at his home in Tallulah. He was 76.

Mr. Loflin was born in Winnsboro and lived in Tallulah since 1948.

He was a retired parts and farm implement dealer and a member of First Baptist Church of Tallulah.

Mr. Loflin was preceded in death by his parents, William H. and Jewel Mann Loflin; and six brothers, Anderson Loflin, Herbert Loflin, Jacob Loflin, Cornel Loflin, James Arther Loflin and William H. Loflin Jr.

He is survived by his wife, Lucy Guimbellot Loflin; his brother, Raymond Loflin of Horatio, Ark.; three sisters, Evis West and Florence D. Smith, both of Monroe, and Lovie L. Boutwell of Kingwood, Texas; and several nieces and nephews.

Services will be at 10 a.m. Monday at Crothers-Glenwood Funeral Home with the Revs. John W. Rushing and Terry Mims officiating. Burial will follow at Oak Grove Baptist Cemetery.

Visitation will be from 3 to 5 p.m. today at the funeral home.

Pallbearers will be Richard Everett, Bill Yerger, Gary Arneson, Bobby Arneson, Todd Guimbellot, David Guimbellot, Danny Watson and Dee Stricker.

Honorary pallbearers will be James Earl Shivers, Rex Mann, Ron Hilderbrand, Wayne Westmoreland, Rod Cobb, Joe Cupit, Harold Murphy, Jack Varner, Willie Antley, John Hopkins, Dick Bringol and Ronald Everett.

Clifford Caswell Whitney

Clifford Caswell Whitney, owner of The Corners Bed & Breakfast Inn in Vicksburg died Friday morning, Jan. 14, 2005, of pneumonia. He was 85 years old. He had been suffering for over a year with a digestive disorder.

Mr. Whitney was born in 1919 in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, to Lola Agnes and Col. Clifford C. Whitney, an Army veterinarian. He had a brother, Edward, and a sister, Janet, who are deceased, and a brother Harrison, an architect, living in California. As a boy, Mr. Whitney lived on Army posts in Texas, Panama and the Philippines while his father was on assignment. Mr. Whitney attended Texas A&M University, receiving degrees in civil and industrial engineering.

As an ROTC graduate of Texas A&M in 1942, Mr. Whitney was commissioned as a second lieutenant of a heavy pontoon battalion at Fort Beauregard in Alexandria, La. After receiving a promotion to captain and company commander in that battalion, Capt. Whitney was assigned to the Corps of Engineers Unit of the 99th Infantry Division. Stationed in Elsenborn, Belgium, he served with the “Battle Babies” in the Battle of the Bulge. They were dubbed “Battle Babies” because immediately upon arrival in Europe from the United States, they were sent into combat.

After the Battle of the Bulge and just prior to the end of the war, Capt. Whitney and his corporal accepted the surrender of a 10,000-strong German garrison in Bamburg, Germany. At the end of the war, he served as the engineer in charge of remodeling the prison to house the German officers stated for trial in Nuremburg, Germany. Mr. Whitney separated from service with the rank of major.

When he returned to the United States, Mr. Whitney married the former Bettye Ann Bruton. He and Mrs. Whitney have four children: Clifford Caswell Whitney III, a lawyer with Varner Parker and Sessums in Vicksburg; Kerry Paige Whitney a teacher at St. Alcuin Montessori School in Dallas; Martha Leigh Whitney Newman, an artist in Ponte Verda Beach, Fla.; and Macy Ann Whitney, a building construction engineer, now project manager for the construction of the new U.S. Embassy in Rome, Italy.

Mr. Whitney’s grandchildren are Nicholas Whitney, Reed Whitney and Cole Whitney, who live in Vicksburg; Jade Whitney, who lives in Dallas; and Yale and Bryn Newman, who live in Florida.

Mr. Whitney worked in industry for many years in personnel management, operations management and sales. He was responsible for developing the Air Trans rail system at the Dallas Fort Worth Airport. After retiring from industry, Mr. Whitney created a new house design called the Pyramodular, which was used in the construction of houses in southern Colorado and Dallas.

In 1985, on their way to Washington, D.C, Cliff and Bettye Whitney stopped in Vicksburg for the night and fell in love with the house next door to Cedar Grove. They bought the house and decided to turn it into a bed and breakfast. Mr. Whitney transformed The Corners into a 15-room B&B with his architectural and engineering ingenuity. His real love was gardening, and he spent countless hours tending to a variety of unusual roses and propagating plants.

Mr. Whitney was very active in promoting bed and breakfasts and tourism in Vicksburg. He worked with George Mayer to create the Vicksburg tourist attraction booklet. He helped found Vicksburg Heritage Inc., an organization to promote Pilgrimage. Mr. Whitney was also very active in trying to reduce the number of trains and noise level of the trains on Pearl Street.

Visitation will be from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. Monday at The Corners Bed and Breakfast Inn. The memorial service will follow at 11 a.m. at Cedar Grove Chapel with the Rev. Matt Buckles officiating.