Graveside services for Gene “Tiny” Autry Bell Sr. will be Monday, Dec. 21, 2020, at 11 a.m. at Cedar Hill Cemetery, under the direction of Dillon-Chisley Funeral Home. Visitation will be Sunday, Dec. 20, 2020, from 1 to 6 p.m. at the funeral home.

Mr. Bell died Dec. 14, 2020, at his home. He was 78.

A lifelong resident of Vicksburg, he was a graduate of Rosa A. Temple High School Class of 1961. He also attended Harris Jr. College in Meridian, where he was a member of the basketball and track teams. He was retired from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Mat Sinking Unit after 45 years of service. 

He was preceded in death by his wife, Patricia Boyd Bell; his parents, Clarence Sr. and Frances McFarland Bell; and his brothers, Clarence Bell, III, Aaron Bell and Machell Bell. 

Survivors include one son, Gene (Laquette) Bell Jr. of Vicksburg; five daughters, Deborah Bell (Freddie) Harris, Kisha Craig, and Eleanor Bell, all of Vicksburg, Cynthia Bell, of Little Rock, Ark., and Francis Hunter, of Atlanta; nine grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; one aunt, Kearen Parker of Vicksburg; and a number of nieces, nephews, and other relatives and friends including Charles Phelps, Barry Phelps, Larry Prentiss, Huey Mace, Jr., Andrew Williams, Dennis Segrest, Freddie Ford, and the Henyard, Knight and Carr families.