Funeral services for Willie Joe Hunt will be held on Saturday, Feb. 16, at 11 a.m. in First Baptist Church with the Evangelist Shirley Norfort officiating; interment will follow in Cedar Hill Cemetery with W.H. Jefferson Funeral Home in charge.

Willie Joe Hunt passed away on Thursday, Feb. 7, in Merit Health River Region Medical Center following a lengthy illness. He was 79. 

He was a retired cook for the MAT Sinking unit. He was a veteran of the US Army and member of First Baptist Church, where he also served as a deacon of the church. He was a member of the Tyner Ford Post #213 American Legion

He was preceded in death by his parents, C.P and Josephine Bell Caldwell. 

He is survived by his wife of 41 years, Rose Hunt of Vicksburg; his 11 sons, Robert Hunt of Brandon, Timothy Hunt of Vicksburg, Michael Hunt of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Michael Anthony Hunt of Chicago, Tommy Johnson of Gary, Indiana, Tommy Hunt of South Carolina, Gregory Mason, Derrick Jackson, Adrian Grissom, John Hunt and James Hunt, all of Milwaukee, Wisconsin; his 11 daughters Shovanne Hunt, Alberta Hunt Williams, Vera Little, Kimberly Knight, Marsha Jenkins, Jose Cosey, Diane Lacey, Eleanor Jackson, Katheryne Brown, Andrea Mason, and Sylvia Jackson, all of Vicksburg; a stepsister, Jessie Patterson of Vicksburg, and a host of grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.