Funeral services for Willie P. “Sonny” Patterson, Jr. are to be held on Saturday, July 28, in the Cool Springs M. B. Church, 385 Falk Steel Road, at 11 a.m. with the Rev. Byron T. Maxwell officiating; interment shall follow in the Cedar Hill Cemetery under the direction of W. H. Jefferson Funeral Home.

Willie P Patterson, Jr. passed away on Monday, July 23, in the University Medical Center following a lengthy illness. He was 68. He was a veteran of the U.S. Army, having served in the Vietnam War. He was an attending member of the Cool Springs M. B. Church. He attended Kings Elementary School and graduated from Rosa A. Temple High School in 1968. He enlisted in the U.S. Army and did a tour of duty in Vietnam. He had worked as a fireman with the Vicksburg Fire Department and later as a technician at the Grand Gulf Nuclear Power Plant with Pittsburgh Testing Laboratory (PTL). He was an avid outdoorsman and loved his family and friends.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Willie P. and Willie Mae Jones Patterson, Sr., and his brother, Carl “Cap” Patterson.

He is survived by his devoted wife of 42 years, Jeanette Patterson of Vicksburg; his daughters, Cassandra (Ramond) Ringo and Regina Ann Hawthorne, both of Vicksburg; his three brothers, James (Vera) Patterson, Freddie (Cynthia) Patterson and Charles Patterson, all of Vicksburg; his two sisters, Rosemary (Benny) Craft and Vivian Diane Patterson, also both of Vicksburg; nine grandchildren, 12 great grandchildren, nieces, nephews, cousins and others.