Funeral services for Willie Ethel Jones will be 1 p.m. Saturday, April 2, 2016, at Zion Travelers M.B. Church. Interment will follow in Cedar Hill Cemetery under the direction of Dillon-Chisley Funeral Home. Visitation will be Friday from 2 until 7 p.m. at the funeral home, and at the church Saturday from noon until the hour of service.

Mrs. Jones died March 22, 2016, at Merit Health River Region Medical Center. She was 82.

Born and reared in Vicksburg, she was a graduate of Magnolia High School, class of 1950, and was also a member of Pleasant Green M.B. Church.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Willie Herman Jones; a son, Anthony Hemphill; her parents, Carrie B. Sims and Joe Yanks; three brothers, James Sims, Alfreddy Cook and Johnny Yanks; and a sister, Annie Thomas.

Survivors include four sons, John Slater Jr. of Nashville, Tenn., Kirk Hemphill of Duncanville, Texas, Edward Hemphill of Jackson, and James Hemphill of Flint, Mich.; eight daughters, Gloria Martin-Berry of Pine Bluff, Ark., Peggy Harris of Springhill, Tenn., Joyce Jones of Houston, Texas, Gwendolyn Denise Black, Emma Gene Jones, Sharon Renette Jones, Valerie Jones-Shepard and Stephanie Jones, all of Vicksburg; one brother, Mack Neal Cook of Vicksburg; 21 grandchildren, 26 great grandchildren, one great great grandchild, and nieces, nephews, and other relatives, including the Hemphill, Cook, and Nix-Shepard families.