The Vicksburg Post prints obituaries in news form for area residents, their family members and for former residents at no charge. Families wishing to publish additional information or to use specific wording have the option of a paid obituary.

Laura Phenix

ROLLING FORK – Laura Phenix died Monday, Sept. 26, 2005, at Sharkey Issaquena Hospital in Rolling Fork. She was 93.

Services will be at 1 p.m. Saturday at Pleasant Grove M.B. Church in Fitler with the Rev. Leroy Wilson officiating. Burial will follow at Manning Cemetery under the direction of Walker Funeral Home in Rolling Fork.

Survivors include five sons, Willie Mann, Wilson Phenix Jr. and Solomon Phenix, all of Detroit, Joe Phenix and James Phenix, both of Rolling Fork; five daughters, Chester Mae White and Bertha Tyler, Shirley Caldwell, Tressie Alokwa, all of Detroit, and Laura Phenix of Rolling Fork; 40 grandchildren; and other great-grandchildren and relatives.

Virginia A. Finch Stark

MADISON – Virginia A. Finch Stark, 93, died Sept. 23, 2005, at St. Catherine’s Village in Madison, Mississippi. Mrs. Stark was born May 15, 1912, in Mishawaka, Ind., and attended Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, Mich. She married Anthony “Tony” Stark in 1935 in Ann Arbor, after his graduation from the University of Michigan. The couple moved to Yellowstone National Park with their two young daughters in 1940, where Tony began a life-long career with the National Park Service. For the next seven years, Virginia lived the pioneer life of a Park Service Ranger’s wife of that era, experiencing snowed-in winters and moving from the summer locations to winter locations a total of twelve times. From Yellowstone, the family moved to the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina and later to the Park headquarters in Roanoke, Va. Mrs. Stark taught for several years in the public schools in Salem and Vinton, Virginia. She and Tony then moved to Cape Hatteras National Seashore on North Carolina’s Outer Banks and eventually transferred to Smoky Mountain National Park. They retired in Sevierville, Tenn., in 1973. Virginia moved to St. Catherine’s Village in Madison, Miss., in 1995, where she spent her final happy and fulfilling years of life. While living in Madison, she was a member of St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church.

Mrs. Stark was preceded in death by her husband of 56 years, Anthony Edward (Tony) Stark, and by her parents, Samuel and Anna Tormey Finch.

She is survived by two daughters, Toni Lanford of Vicksburg, Miss., and Sharon Hooper (and husband, Lennon) of Greenville, N.C. She is also survived by a brother, Charles “Pete” Finch of Niles, Mich., and by six grandchildren; Joseph (Melissa) Lanford of Houston, Texas, Catherine Lanford of Richmond, Va., Michael (Katherine) Lanford of Jackson, Miss., Kathleen (Roger Wrighton) Hooper of Wuppertal, Germany, John (Katy) Lanford of New Orleans, La., and Karen (Mark) Zuppa of Denver, Colo.; 11 great-grandchildren; and six nieces and nephews.

A Mass of Christian Burial for Mrs. Stark took place at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Niles, Mich., on Sept. 27, followed by burial in the Tormey family plot in Calvary Cemetery in Niles. Halbritter Funeral Home was in charge of arrangements.

Memorials may be made to St. Catherine’s Village Foundation, 200 Dominican Drive, Madison, MS 39110.